


The Undercover Cruise

by strawberriesNcigarettes



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fun, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, choni, faking dating, they're detectives and they're going undercover, we have it all, we love fake dating aus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-05-05 04:25:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14609265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberriesNcigarettes/pseuds/strawberriesNcigarettes
Summary: Cheryl and Toni are two really competitive co-workers who aren't really too fond of each other. It's a shame really considering their next mission requires them to go undercover as two people in a loving relationship.





	1. The Contest

**Author's Note:**

> the gays just love their fake dating au's don't they
> 
> (a little inspired by b99 obviously)

Cheryl was running.

No actually, Cheryl was _sprinting_ down a city street. She wasn't just out for a morning workout though, as one might think. Well, actually you might not think that, considering the fact that she was wearing a Starbuck's uniform. You see, Cheryl or Detective Blossom just so happened to finally trap the perp she'd been tailing undercover for months.

Yes, she said months. Months away from the people she loved just so she could secure her identity and remain undercover. It had been especially hard since she was undercover in her own city. But that was the job. Cheryl Blossom was a Detective for the Riverdale Police Department, and she would do anything that her place of employment asked of her. She loved her job and the idea of keeping bad people off the streets and out of innocent people's lives. So, when the case was presented to her, she took it without hesitation and immediately got down to business.

And now? Now she was attempting to rip the barista apron off her body, so her legs could have easier access for mobility. Don't worry though, the chase was planned out. Detective Blossom is a huge planner after all, and she had accounted for all of this ahead of time. She had accounted for the long chase down this exact road, for the fact that she would not be able to have a weapon on her due to her undercover alias, and she had accounted for the perp being quick on his feet.

What she didn't account for, was her pink-haired co-worker popping out of an alleyway and taking down the man she had been chasing for 20 minutes.

The perp. _Her_ perp. That she had been trailing. Undercover. For _months_.

"What the hell Topaz?" Cheryl boomed standing over the shorter woman who was pinning down the perp. Again, _CHERYL'S_ perp.

"Finishing the job. Something you clearly needed help with." Toni lifted the nearly unconscious man up to his feet. "You can thank me anytime now, by the way."

"So, that was your plan? Come in last minute, throw a couple punches so you can just get the credit? For all of the work I've done?" _**Of-fucking-course this would happen to her. And obviously it would be Topaz behind it all.**_

Detective Topaz was one of the newer squad members that had been assigned to the RPD not too long ago. She broke dress code protocol constantly with her dyed hair and Cheryl was pretty sure she could lift her up with one arm if she really tried. She was also a giant pain in Detective Blossom's ass.

"You get credit for catching the guy. Which you didn't do. I did." Toni was basically dragging the man back to her car. **_How the hell did someone so small have enough power to drag that big of a dude so far?_**

"I was literally about to. I had everything planned out. I was taking him down."

"No what you were doing was playing tag, and you were definitely going to be 'it' for another couple of months unless someone came to help you."

Toni boosted the man into the back seat of her car, and Cheryl could feel the anger rising inside her. She clenched her fists. Toni slammed the door shut, hitting the man's butt in the process and sending him flying forward towards the other end of the back seat. The smaller agent turned to face the redhead.

"See you back at HQ for the final score reveal? Where I win?" Toni winked at Cheryl before jumping in the front seat of her vehicle and zooming away, leaving Cheryl covered in gravel dust, frustrated and annoyed.

When she was absolutely sure the car was out of sight Cheryl didn't hesitate to kick over an old trash can, mumbling various (and creative) profanities under her breath as she did so. After kicking a few pieces of trash and one very small rock around the alley, she crouched and rubbed her temples. Months of agonizing work, completely wasted because her annoying co-worker just _HAD_ to show her up.

It wasn't the first time either. Detective Blossom and Detective Topaz had never gotten along from the moment they met. It was always an unofficial competition between the two until a year ago when it became a real thing. People at the office created a game on who would catch the most criminals within the year. Detective Blossom was a shoo in to win and she knew it, but she was also sure that when the boss found out, the whole thing would be terminated. To her surprise, the captain thought it would be a good boost for productivity and even added prizes for the top three winners. Ever since then, Detective Topaz had been even more unbearable than usual, bragging every time she brought someone in, getting to the station _extra_ early to get the most recent cases, and now taking Cheryl's very own perp right from under her nose.

Detective Blossom reminded herself that she still loved her job and, in the end, that's all that really mattered. **_Right?_**

After a few deep breaths, Detective Blossom moved her hair out of her face and stood up. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found the name she was looking for. It took a couple of rings before the person on the other end of the line picked up.

"Veronica? Will you come pick me up on Rosemont? No, the case isn't still going or else I wouldn't have called you, will you please just give me a ride to my car....it's a long story."

After a shower and an outfit change, Cheryl was in the station's meeting room, sitting next to her work partner, Detective Lodge.

"So, she just clocked the guy?" Veronica had been asking questions ever since she arrived in the alley. "And you just let her take him? Without a fight?"

Cheryl sighed and rolled her eyes. She looked behind her where Detective Topaz was sitting, legs crossed laughing about god knows what that just came out of her partner, Sweet Pea's, mouth. **_Cheryl had been working here for years and still didn't know his actual name._** ** _She didn't think anybody did._**

"For the millionth time yes. And there's never any point in getting angry with her because she just _enjoys_ it. She literally gets a kick out of pissing me off."

"Well, I would've fought her for you if I was there. I'm sure you could still tell the captain and she would count it towards your goal." Veronica wriggled her eyebrows at her partner at the suggestion.

"Okay I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a snitch."

"You get how ironic that is right? You can see the irony in the sentence that just came out of your mouth?"

"Good Evening detectives!" A tall blonde woman walked through the door and took her place behind the podium in front of the room. "I'm sure you're all excited for the final reveal of this year's fun little game. Is everyone here?"

"Yes, Captain Alice. All detectives are in attendance." Kevin Keller, the Captain's assistant reported back to the older woman. She didn't like being called by her legal last name, so the entire squad referred to her as Captain Alice. She and her ex-husband had some major issues. Let's just say he hasn't seen the outside of a jail cell in a long time.

"Good. Let's begin." Kevin handed the captain a manila folder as she put on her dark rimmed reading glasses. "Okay the results are in! Coming in third place is...Detective Lodge! Come on up here Veronica, claim your prize."

Veronica stood up as a round of applause quietly erupted from the rest of the detectives. She bowed in an exaggerated way, as one Veronica Lodge would, and went to grab her prize. A couple of $25 gift cards to The Riverdale Spa, The Bijou, and of course Pop's Diner.

"I would like to thank not only my friends and family, but that group of bank robbers that tried to hit up the place on 12th . I wouldn't be here today without catching them. This one's for you!"

A couple of people laughed and Cheryl chimed in with a couple of playful 'booooos' before Veronica took back the seat next to her.

"Great work Veronica! Hope those gift cards come in handy. Now for the finalists." The captain looked down to the folder.

At first, she looked in confusion at the paper and then shifted that same look towards Kevin. Kevin leaned over and whispered something into Alice's ear and she smiled. Alice then took off her glasses and prepared herself to speak again.

"Well, it looks like we have a tie. Between Detective Blossom and.....Detective Topaz!"

Everyone started clapping, but both women remained seated. Cheryl looked back to see if Toni was just as irritated as she was, but the other girl just looked lost. Toni stood up.

"So....who gets the first prize and who gets the second prize? We can't both get a week off."

Captain Alice chuckled slightly before answering. "No Miss Topaz you can't. That's why Mr. Keller has had the most wonderful idea to have a tie breaker. Having to do with the giant case I received this morning."

Chatter erupted from the various detectives scattered around the room. Veronica and Cheryl looked at each other, Veronica a little bit too excited for her friend than she probably should be.

"What kind of case?" Detective Topaz asked once the talking had died down a bit.

"High profile and completely classified. If you two would follow me to my office so I can brief you on the mission. For the rest of you, that concludes the reveal ceremony. Another will be planned for when the tie breaker ends. Until then, everyone please get back to work." Captain Alice pointed at Cheryl then Toni and then gestured to her office.

Veronica turned to her partner. "Bet you wish you would've snitched now."

Cheryl lightly punched Veronica on the shoulder before exiting the room, making sure to be a few steps ahead of Detective Topaz.

Once they were both seated in the chairs opposite of the captain, Alice began to speak.

"Both of you finished this year's challenge with the highest numbers of criminal take downs, breaking all kinds of records. I just want you both to know that this is not only a tie breaker, but it is something you have earned in doing great work for the department." Kevin handed Alice two sealed envelopes and then exited the room, closing the door on the way out.

"This case is to trace down a very popular man. You may have heard of him before. He goes by the name of Black Hood."

Cheryl's jaw dropped open. "Woah woah wait, THE Black Hood? Like the crime lord, Black Hood?"

"No, the rapper." Toni smiled to herself as Cheryl rolled her eyes.

Alice opened one of the envelopes and pulled out pictures of various crime scenes and mugshots, including a fuzzy photo of Black Hood himself.

"Yes Cheryl that's right. We have intel that he will be doing business on a cruise ship that leaves from Florida this weekend and I want you two to go board and catch him. The ship stops at various countries around the world and we think that not only will Black Hood be onboard, but a few other big names as well. Poutine, St. Clair, Peabody, the works. They're planning something, and we need you to take them down before they follow through."

Cheryl and Toni both looked at each other wide-eyed and then looked back at the captain.

"We do not want you to engage with any of them until you find out what they are up to. Of course, they will all be undercover, which means you will be too. You see, this is a couple's cruise." Alice pulled out two pamphlets and handed them to each detective.

"What?" Both Cheryl and Toni said in unison.

Cheryl took a deep breath in. "So, our partners must be coming with us right? In order for us to go undercover we have to pretend to be two different couples?"

"Well your partners will be briefed of course, so they know where you are and can be called for backup when the time comes. And Kevin and his boyfriend Detective Fogarty will be joining you to maintain an unbiased opinion as to who truly takes down the criminals. But you will actually be playing the role of being one couple. Together."

Cheryl almost choked on her own saliva. Panic and frustration rushed into her body and I guess the captain could tell.

"Is there a problem Miss Blossom?" Alice questioned the Detective and Toni made an effort to angle her body towards Cheryl.

"Yeah, Miss Blossom is there?" Toni was full on smirking now, and Cheryl wanted to slap it off her face.

"No ma'am. I'm just really excited to start this mission." Cheryl urged a smile to grow on her face. That was probably one of the biggest lies Cheryl had ever told, and she interrogates criminals for a living. She wanted to do anything else but start a case where she would have to voluntarily be Toni Topaz's girlfriend. For an entire week she might add. Cheryl could barely be in the other girl's presence for 5 minutes without wanting to rip her hair out, and now she was going to have to share a room with her? Her skin was already crawling at the thought, so she crossed her arms to control herself.

"Great! Then it's settled. This Friday you will prepare yourselves to become the most believable couple ever!" Alice packed all of the pictures back into the envelope and handed that and the identical one to Toni and Cheryl. "Inside is the complete case, filled with reports on all of the criminals you should be expecting to run into on your getaway. Get studying, and I'll be there to send you off come Friday morning."

Once Cheryl was back in her own desk, she sighed. Seven days. With nonstop Toni Topaz. She was already feeling the effects of the torture and it was only Monday.

"Great." Cheryl whispered to herself.

_**Just great.** _


	2. Cruise Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the night before the cruise is filled with some nerves, worries, texting, studying and a lot of wine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi thanks for reading season 3 choni will rise

Veronica had been laughing for five minutes straight.

 

No seriously, there were tears streaming down her face and Cheryl wanted to kill her.

 

“This isn’t funny!” Cheryl jabbed Veronica hard in the arm with her finger and Veronica finally stopped laughing to clutch the limb that was just attacked.

 

“Ok _ow_ ,” Veronica wiped the tears from her eyes. “No need to get aggressive.”

 

“I just told you that I’m going to have the worst week of my life, when I wasn’t really supposed to I might add, and you’re laughing your ass off! I think I’m allowed to be a little angry.” Cheryl rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine.

 

She and Veronica decided to get dinner the night after Veronica was briefed on the cruise mission information. Cheryl had accidentally told her about the minor detail that Captain Alice had apparently left out.

 

“You’re actually going to have to pretend to date your worst enemy,” Veronica took a bite of her sandwich “you can’t expect me not to laugh.”

 

**_Ok. Maybe a major detail._ **

 

Listen, it was completely unprofessional, and definitely not something Cheryl would usually do when she was being trusted with an undercover operation. Being isolated from her friends and family was one thing, but being isolated from her friends and family while also being forced to play house with the one person she hated most on the planet? She had to tell _somebody_. She’d been nauseous since leaving Alice’s office Monday and when she heard Veronica was finally being briefed on Thursday, there was no chance in hell that she could hold it in any longer.

 

Cheryl sighed. “It’s going to be _awful_ Ronnie. I can’t stand being around her for longer than 2 seconds without wanting to fight her, now I’m going to be stuck in the middle of the ocean with her for an entire week? If the _multiple crime lords_ on board don’t hunt me down I might just throw my own body overboard myself.”

 

“Stop being dramatic, you’re a professional AND you’re at the top of of the squad. You know you’re going to kill this even if you have little miss pink streak pushing your buttons the whole time.” Veronica took a sip from the wine glass she had ordered. “Besides, what if you two fall in love or something.” She winked at Cheryl but Cheryl didn’t see it because she was too busy choking on her drink.

 

“Please,” Cheryl squeaked out after finally recovering. “I would rather chop off my own arm.”

 

“I’m joooooking don’t be such a tight ass.” Veronica giggled. Cheryl shot her a look and Veronica put up her hands in surrender.

 

“Sorry, bad choice of words. But seriously, you’re going to have to like. Hold hands and stuff. What if you have to kiss? You know for proof! In case someone asks for authenticity or something?”

 

“Asks for authenticity? Veronica this is a relationship, not a legal document. Hand holding,” Cheryl had to swallow down a gag. “I could see that happening. But anything else can definitely be avoided.”

 

“You’ll do it if you have to and you know it.”

 

“Ugh I know, but I don’t want to think about it. I just want to get on board already you know? Get on quick, catch the bad guys and come home to the week off I deserve when I win the competition.”

 

“That’s the spirit. Look forward to coming home, don’t focus on the fact that you’ll basically be living with your version of Satan reincarnated for seven days.”

 

“Soooo not helping.”

 

Veronica and Cheryl continued to eat and talk about the case until Cheryl pushed her unfinished dish in front of her slightly.

 

“You barely took two bites.”

 

Cheryl shrugged and searched her wallet for her card. “We’ve been talking about the case the whole time and it was making me nervous.”

 

“Okay seriously? You’ve gone into undercover missions for months and you were never nervous. For this particular mission I’d understand frustration or even anger. But nervousness? That’s a little too soft of you to be accepted. What’s the deal?” Veronica raised an eyebrow at the redhead.

 

“It’s just…..” Cheryl was kind of avoiding eye contact now. "I don't know...." That was a lie. Cheryl definitely knew why she was nervous. And Veronica totally knew, she was raising an eyebrow at Cheryl to continue on even though Detective Blossom was looking for any indication to stop. She sighed after Veronica took a sip of her win but managed to keep eye contact with the redhead the whole time.

 

“It’s weird for me I guess. Considering how... _she_ treated me for being who I am….” Cheryl shifted uncomfortably. “Even if it is just pretend, what if what she said about knowing nothing about love, that I don’t even do anything right? You know? What if I blow the whole cover because I don't know how to act in a real relationship."

 

Cheryl started playing with her hands trying so hard to repress the memories of her mother that had been circulating her brain ever since she was told that she had to be in a fake relationship with another woman. The way her mom threatened to send her away to a gay conversion therapy camp. Her never allowing Cheryl to have any female guests over just in case they were more than just friends. The various forced dates with random guys that she never ever felt anything for. The screaming about how she would never find love and if she did, she was sure to ruin it.

 

Thank God she got emancipated and started college with the help of Veronica. But even in college she hadn’t really dated anyone. Despite the numerous offers and Ronnie begging her to start looking out for her own happiness for once. She just couldn’t push herself to do to. For fearing that the words of her mother would eventually come true. She had enough pain for a lifetime already.

 

“Cher come on you’re amazing at everything you do, don’t let that old bitch get to you when you got rid of that mess years ago.” Veronica was using her serious voice now, the one she only saved for two things:

 

  1. Talking to criminals and
  2. Making sure to remind Cheryl that her mother was a serious piece of trash.



 

“Don’t worry about messing up being in a fake relationship ok? Seriously it’s super easy because first of all it isn’t real, so you’re not going to let anyone down. This is a mission and the only person being affected are you and your one demon spawn co-worker. Just call Kevin and ask for a few sapphic romcoms to watch before the cruise, take notes and go from there. Plus if I weren’t straight, we’d totally be that power couple and you know it. We’d never break up and get married and you would treat me so well everyone would be jealous. So just act like how we would act except with you know. More sexual passion than platonic.”

 

“You’re so obnoxious.” Cheryl laughed. “But thanks. I do feel slightly better now. Especially since you think that you’d ever be close enough to being in my league.”

 

“Hey!”  Veronica laughed and playfully slapped Cheryl in the arm. Then she pushed her empty dish in front of her so it touched the one Cheryl had pushed forward earlier. “Check please!”

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

At around the same time, Toni was sitting at home feeling a little restless too.

 

It _was_ the day before her biggest mission after all.

 

She was currently texting her partner about the job since he was finally briefed on the situation, and honestly, her friend was not helping her nerves at all.

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 7:23 PM: LMFAOOOO_ **

 

**_Toni @ 7:27 PM: Shut uppp it’s not funny it’s awful._ **

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 7:30 PM: u have to date detective TIGHT ASS for a week. thats pretty fucking hilarious if u ask me tiny._ **

 

**_Toni @ 7:31 PM: Well good thing I wasn’t asking you._ **

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 7:32 PM: i mean u did tell me this was happening when u werent supposed to sooooooo you were clearly asking 4 sumthing_ **

 

**_Toni @ 7:32 PM: I’m just worried Pea. Like what if she kills me in my sleep._ **

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 7:38 PM: o plz u know ur just nervous bc ur gonna have a girl in ur bed for the first time in months. as crazy as blossom is, shes hot._ **

 

**_Toni @ 7:40 PM: Ew._ **

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 7:45 PM: u know im right._ **

 

And maybe Toni did know he was right. But there was no way in hell she would ever actually admit that.

 

Toni locked her phone, got up to serve herself a glass of wine, and then reopened the envelope Captain Alice had given her Monday morning. Inside were various pictures of crime scenes and criminals that Toni had already spent the last several days looking over. She knew those details front to back. Hell she could probably rap every line in those case files if she really wanted to.

 

What she hadn't studied front to back yet however was the file that held her new secret identity. She wanted it to be fresh in her mind for the morning, so she had waited until today to review what she had skimmed through the previous nights.

 

Her name was going to be Tessa Dagwood, she was from Los Angeles, born February 3rd 1994. She had grown up in Northern California with both of her parents, but moved down for college where she majored in Photography at Chapman. Her favorite movie was Batman vs. Superman (Toni gagged reading _that_ line) and her favorite TV show was Parks and Rec. She also had a dog. A dog that she co-parented with her girlfriend Maxine Venz.

 

God she still couldn’t believe this was happening.

 

When Toni first got assigned to the RPD, the redhead had definitely caught her attention. _**Not just because she was sort of off the charts gorgeous**_ , but the girl worked hard. She was kind of a legend at the station and well, Toni loved a good challenge. Especially when she saw a chance to play around with the competition. Cheryl always did things by the book and made an effort to make sure everyone else did too. There was just something about people like that that made Toni want to prove them wrong. To show them that you can get the same thing done and have a good time doing it. Win them over by proving it was ok to loosen the reigns a little bit.

 

Unfortunately, Cheryl wasn’t won over so easily. In fact, Cheryl wasn’t won over at all. Ever. It’s been a constant battle since then, and Toni has grown to be absolutely irritated by Cheryl’s by the book personality. But the messing around with her never stopped being fun. A little wink here and a snarky comment there made her day even better because she knew she was getting under Blossom’s skin. They were just meant to be natural enemies.

 

Also it sort of made Toni feel like she had an inside joke with someone. Even if that someone hated her guts for it.

 

But there was also this thing about Cheryl that caught her eye after being around her for a few months and it sort of made her second guess her efforts in annoying Cheryl at every possible chance life offered.

 

Toni didn’t understand how this side of Cheryl worked. You see Toni had always known Cheryl to be so uptight in a first come first serve type of way. Woke up late? Too bad, should’ve gone to sleep earlier. Make a mistake? You should’ve planned everything out before making that decision and it wouldn’t have been a mistake. And if you _did_ fuck up? Don’t even think about expecting her to help you. Unless you were Veronica of course. Veronica’s mess was Cheryl’s mess after all.

 

But there was this side that was just. Not at all like any of what Toni had just described. And Toni had seen it with her own two eyes before. Multiple times.

 

Like the one time Toni saw her give her entire lunch to Detective Fogarty because he left his at home. Or that one time Detective McCoy was crying in the hallway when Captain Alice found out her mother was behind a huge drug deal and Cheryl was holding her in support. It was this side of Cheryl that you could only really see through a side eye at the office and if you blinked, it was gone in a moment. But Toni kept her eyes open whenever she was around the girl. Truthfully it kind of made her want to become friends.

 

So yeah she was a little nervous. Because what if she saw that side of Cheryl during these seven days. And what if it ruined her chance at winning?

 

Toni shook the idea from her head. **_Snap out of it Topaz. You deserve this week off, and if you catch these guys you’ll get it. Plus catching a majority of the RPD’s most wanted list in one go? Looks pretty damn good on your record._ **

 

Toni’s motivation for the mission returned to her after she gave herself that little pep talk and picked up her phone again.

 

**_Toni @ 8:03 PM: I don’t know that you’re right actually. Because you’re not. I gtg Pea. Studying for the case._ **

 

Toni waited a few short minutes before she received a ping noise in response.

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 8:05 PM: whatever u say tiny. goodluck. and plz dont die because then ill be all alone making fun of detective tight ass. and i dont think i can face that rash alone._ **

 

Toni laughed at her screen for a good minute before typing out her response.

 

 **_Toni @ 8:09 PM: It’s_ w** **rath** **_Sweets. And no promises._ **

**_\-------------------------------------------------------------_ **

Cheryl was still nervous when she got home.

 

After stripping off her work clothes and getting settled in her pj's, she spent a few hours retelling her new undercover identity to herself in the mirror by memory.

 

“I am Maxine Venz. I was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 18th, 1993. I moved to LA for college where I majored in art at UCLA. My favorite movie is Suicide Squad (Suicide Squad? Really Maxine?) and my favorite show is Pretty Little Liars. I have a dog that I co-parent with my girlfriend Tessa. We've been dating for two months.”

 

Once she was done repeating those lines a million more times within two hours, Cheryl decided to take some of Veronica’s advice from earlier. With a long phone discussion consulting with Kevin about the gay movies and microwaving some popcorn, she stayed up until 5 am watching various amounts of LGBT films for homework. After getting emotional over Imagine Me & You (which was great, but had nothing on San Junipero) she was finally able to fall asleep. For about 24 minutes until her alarm went off loudly to the tune of Beyonce’s Countdown.

 

Which meant that it was time. Today was the day she flew to Florida with Detective Topaz to get on a cruise ship the next 7 days.

 

_**How fucking fun.** _

 


	3. All Aboard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gays on a plane and then on a boat because we love variety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these chapters might start getting a little longer from now on because the plot is about to start rolling B)

“I brought you some coffee because you know _damn_ well tea isn’t going to get you through this morning.”

 

Veronica handed her friend a paper cup with the Starbucks logo on it. Cheryl shivered, remembering her last undercover mission, before taking the cup from Detective Lodge’s hands.

 

Cheryl would do absolutely anything to be shooting whipped cream into cups again if it meant she didn’t have to work this case. She was not ready to be with the most annoying person in her life for seven days straight and much less play a couple for the same amount of time. Especially one that co-parented a dog together.

She and Veronica were in the airport terminal near baggage claim waiting for everyone else to get there. They had decided to arrive a little earlier than the designated time so Cheryl could work out her nerves before the captain arrived. She had said she didn't want the captain to see her nervous before sending her off on the big mission and second guessing if she truly deserved to go. Or at least that’s what Cheryl had told Veronica she was trying to do. In reality, the soon to be undercover detective’s anxiety definitely came from a different source. **_Or person.._**

 

“Did you at least get coconut milk?” Cheryl took a sip to investigate.

 

“Of course your majesty.” Veronica crossed her legs, taking a sip from her own coffee. “You would’ve fought me otherwise, and it’s _way_ too early for that.”

 

Cheryl rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. She was grateful that she was going to have her friend to talk to when she was on board the metal death trap of doom. Okay exaggerations aside, she was just glad she could send V a text if she was in emotional turmoil. It was like Veronica was reading her mind because suddenly she demanded that Cheryl hand over her phone.

 

“Why?”

 

Veronica, clearly too determined to do something on Cheryl’s phone, snatched it out of the other girl’s hands without answering. After a few taps the girl handed the bright red iPhone back to her friend.

 

 

“Victoria? You changed your name in my contacts?” Cheryl raised an eyebrow.

 

“Yes _Maxine_ ,” Veronica sighed. “We can’t have wandering eyes knowing that you’re texting me when all the juicy gay drama happens on board. Especially since you’re undercover. Honestly, you should probably do that with all of the contacts of the detectives you have in there.”

 

“Isn’t Victoria a little close too home though?”

 

“No!! Victoria is still captures the elegant-ness of Veronica and you won’t have to remember a whole new letter to type in when you want to send me a message. I’m honestly doing you a favor by making this my fake name.”

 

“It sounds like you’re giving in to your _Posh Spice_ obsession to me but ok.”

 

“My love for girl groups is none of your concern.”

 

“How are you straight.”

 

Veronica laughed but then something caught her eye to Cheryl’s right

 

“To be completely honest, I’m beginning to wonder the same thing...”

 

Cheryl turned to look at what Veronica was ogling at and after a good 30 seconds of looking her eyes widened a little.

 

Cheryl hadn’t recognized her at first but Detective Topaz was getting out of a cab outside the entrance doors. Only she wasn’t wearing her usual white button up and ponytail like how Cheryl saw her everyday. Toni had her hair down cascading in loose curls over her shoulders, the pink seemingly brighter than usual. More importantly ( _ **Or at least more importantly to Cheryl’s gay ass**_ ) she was also wearing tight leather pants and a very very revealing crop top that displayed some really well toned abs. **_Was that a belly-button piercing?_**   Cheryl had to spin back around to avoid being caught staring.

 

**_Seriously? It was 6 am. How does anyone look that good at 6 am?_ **

 

“What the fuck?” Cheryl said to Veronica, but Veronica was still busy watching Toni as she lifted her suitcase out of the trunk. Cheryl slapped her on the arm.

 

“ _OW_ what, WHAT?” Veronica raised her arms in innocence. “I’m sorry Cher, but are you seeing this? I didn’t know she had a part time job as a _P90X instructor_.” The brunette widened her eyes at her friend.

 

“She’s...on the force, she has to be physically fit.” Cheryl tried to convince herself more than Veronica.

 

“Okay well I’m on the force too and I do not look like that.”

 

Cheryl shot her friend a look bordering on concern and anger.

 

“I mean I’m obviously proud of _all of this_ don’t get me wrong,” Veronica gestured at her own body.  “But that is like...her mom definitely fucked a god or something.”

 

“This isn’t Percy Jackson, Veronica.”

 

“You know I don’t get that reference.”

 

“What are you guys talking about?”

 

Both girls jumped.

 

Toni was currently giving them an extremely confused look, green suitcase in hand.

 

Cheryl and Veronica exchanged looks before Cheryl decided to speak out.

 

“Mythology. Gods and stuff. Like from those kid's books. Veronica thinks I’d be the god of…”

 

“Wisdom, Yup she’s smart hahahaha!” Veronica laughed like her brain was just hacked by Sophia the Robot and Cheryl was seconds away from sweating through her shirt.

 

**_Why were they both panicking? Nothing even happened. It’s not like Toni even saw them staring...right?_ **

 

“Athena outsold.” Toni plopped down in the middle of the two, pushing the handle to her suitcase back down inside.

 

Cheryl’s eyes narrowed and she remembered why she had never really taken in Toni’s looks in the first place. Annoyed, Cheryl turned herself so that she was facing her.

 

“Well it’s a good thing you have Koalemos beat then.”

 

“Koala who?” Veronica interjected, her head popping out from behind Toni’s.

 

“Koalemos.” Toni corrected. “The god of stupidity. Good one!” Toni scrunched her nose sarcastically before rolling her eyes.

 

Cheryl was about to start firing off insults but unfortunately for her, ( ** _and thankfully for Toni_** ) she was interrupted.

 

“Good morning ladies!” Captain Alice walked up to them, hidden under sunglasses and a black baseball hat. "Veronica? What are you doing here?"

 

Veronica stood up and walked over to Cheryl.

 

"Just keeping Detective Blossom company before her big mission ma'am! But now that you're here I'll be heading out."

 

Veronica gave Cheryl a hug and lowered her voice.

 

“Well I better leave before the Captain realizes that your big mouth told me everything you weren’t supposed to.” Veronica closed her eyes and held her friend tightly. “Please be safe. Also try not to kill her. Orange wouldn’t look good on you. Also because she looks really good and I might ask her out.”

 

"You're the worst."

 

“Love you too.”

 

Veronica broke the hug and walked towards the exit. Passing her going the opposite direction was Kevin and Detective Fogarty. Each boy holding the hand of the other.

 

_**At least someone was going to enjoy the trip.** _

 

They both rolled their luggage over to the other detectives and waited for the Captain to speak.

 

“Today is the day! Your flight will leave in about two hours so you better get moving right after I finish explaining the mission instructions. You will board the plane and land in Miami where you will then board the cruise. We have purchased you both rooms on opposite ends of the ship. Of course Kevin and Fangs will stay in one room and Toni and Cheryl you will stay in the other.”

 

Cheryl didn’t know why she was cringing, she already knew that.

 

“The ship will travel to various locations, but will end in Rio, right in time for Carnaval. Usually the cruise would take you back as well, but we will need you back with the information you have gathered right away. So in order to do so, you will get off the cruise and stay at a hotel overnight until your flight back to Miami leaves the next morning.”

 

Cheryl’s eyes widened. Thank god. She was barely able to stomach the idea of being stranded with Toni for a week, much less two.

 

“I’m now giving you guys funding cards. These have an unlimited amount of money on them so that way you will be able to access any activity on the ship in order to complete the mission. On top of that I took it upon myself to book you all for activities beforehand just to secure your identities as couples. Those will be listed in your itineraries that the crew will give you when you check in. I know this is a very serious and dangerous mission, but do enjoy yourselves when you can. Stay loose but stay focused. Make sure to check in with me or your partners if anything is found. Keep HQ updated through your work phones only, just in case your personals are being traced, and only check in at night in your cabins unless it is an emergency. And one final thing...” Alice took in a breath sharply. “Good luck!”

 

After saying their goodbyes, all four coworkers made their way through security and boarded the flight. Kevin and Fangs were seated near the front and Cheryl was seated in the back window seat right next to Toni. _**I mean what was she even expecting at this point?**_

 

When they finally took off (and after a few minutes of _painfully_ ridiculous uncomfortable silence) Toni reached under the seat in front of her and pulled out a laptop. She opened it and Cheryl couldn’t help but glance at the screen. I mean they were basically side by side, it was hard _not_ to peek.

 

Toni had connected to the plane’s WiFi and was on some Tumblr website that was just filled with photography. Candids of people and gorgeous views of various sites. Some of them looked like they were taken in Riverdale.

 

“Nosy much?”

 

Cheryl snapped out of her gaze and side eyed the woman sitting next to her.

 

“No.”

 

Toni raised an eyebrow, clearly seeing through _that_ lie. Cheryl didn’t like how easily Toni could read her sometimes.

 

“Ok fine _maybe_ I'm a little intrigued. What is that?” Cheryl nodded towards the screen.

 

“It's....my photography blog.” Toni turned a little red when she said that sentence, and Cheryl rolled her eyes.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing, it’s just,” Cheryl looked back at Toni. “you said that like you were embarrassed. As if those pictures aren’t amazing. It’s annoying.”

 

Toni smirked and squinted back at the girl. “ _So_ close to a compliment, yet so far away.”

 

And maybe Cheryl smiled back a little. _**Only a little though.**_

 

“I’m tired so any compliment part you might’ve heard was definitely just the sleepiness talking. Speaking of which! Goodnight.” Cheryl got herself situated in the chair before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Toni spent a majority of the plane ride watching movies and shows she had downloaded on to her computer prior to boarding. She got through a few Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes and was almost done with Pitch Perfect 2 ( _ **so she had a guilty pleasure sue her**_ ). Cheryl was asleep for all of that time so things were going pretty smoothly anyway. 

 

Until Toni felt a head fall on her shoulder.

 

_**You’ve got to be kidding me.** _

 

Toni turned her head slightly and sure enough, a big mess of red hair was covering her entire left arm. Toni was about to jolt her off, but then she noticed Cheryl’s face. She looked exhausted, even when she was asleep, so she must not have had enough in the first place. Toni decided to just let her be for the rest of the ride. They were going to land soon anyway.

 

But Toni also noticed how peaceful Cheryl looked. She was sort of effortlessly beautiful and well, Toni isn’t exactly immune to pretty girls, no matter how annoying or uptight they might be. She was determined to keep her cool though, which is why she convinced herself that she was only allowing this to happen because she was being nice, not because she thought it was cute.

 

Well she _was_ keeping her cool, until Cheryl snuggled (yes _SNUGGLED_ ) further into Toni’s shoulder, bringing her hand up to wrap around Toni’s arm. Toni completely froze and alarms started going off in her mind.

 

_** GIRL! GIRL! GIRL! GIRL! GIRL! GIRL! SHE'S BEING CUTE! IN HER SLEEP! GIRL! GIRL! GIRL! ** _

 

_**Ok no, why is this happening she’s just oN youR SHOulder or whatever. Relax.** _

 

Toni was still tense when the flight attendant’s voice came on over the intercom.

 

“Everyone please stay seated and fasten your seat belts we will be landing shortly.”

 

Cheryl shifted and Toni took the opportunity to remove her arm from the situation, pretending to stretch. Cheryl woke up and yawned, shaking her arms dramatically and looked over at Toni who was acting like she had also just woken up.

 

“Oh, did you fall asleep too?”

 

“Yup that’s what I was doing.” Toni’s eyes widened as she looked off to the side and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------

 

After landing, the team got a ride to the docks and saw their ship for the first time.

 

“Holy shit.” Kevin took off his sunglasses to see the ship more clearly, and Cheryl followed.

 

The boat was _humongous_ and it was actually insane. Cheryl didn’t know how the two of them were supposed to cover the entire ship in order to find out what the Black Hood was planning or even how they were going to find the guy to begin with.

 

The four of them boarded the ship and Cheryl felt a hand in hers. _**What the-**_

 

“Time to shine, Max.” Toni winked and Cheryl could feel the blood rushing to her face as they both stepped forward to the counter. The man behind it finished typing something on the computer and then smiled up at them.

 

“Hello, welcome aboard! My name is Reggie, Can I get the name for the room?”

 

Cheryl was going to speak but Toni beat her to it. _**Typical.**_

 

“Hi! Tessa Dagwood and Max Venz.” Toni looked at Cheryl with the softest eyes and for a second Cheryl tensed up.

 

_**She's just playing the part idiot.** _

 

Cheryl returned a smile and then looked back to the manager.

 

“Oh how perfect! You two are adorable! Here’s your room card and itinerary. Please if you need anything don’t hesitate to call the front desk. The pool hours are from 8 AM to 1 AM, and the bar is open until 5 AM. Buffet is served all day and the complimentary WiFi password will be on the dresser in your room. Of course all of this information is located on your itinerary as well as the events you have booked prior to boarding. Have an amazing cruise and happy anniversary.”

 

“Thank you!” They both said in unison, and Cheryl giggled. **_She had to sell it right?_**   Toni took the items from Reggie and with her fingers still intertwined with the other detective, pulled Cheryl behind her.

 

The girls made their way to the door with the identical number as their key card and Toni finally untangled their fingers to unlock it. Cheryl ignored the coldness her hand suddenly felt and attempted to fix her hair. Once the green light signaled that it was unlocked, the two walked into their home for the next week.

 

“Woah,” Toni stepped inside and Cheryl followed. “Okay this is…..kind of amazing.”

 

And it was. Cheryl walked around to explore the room, or _rooms_ they had been given. There was a gorgeous living space with a huge TV, a kitchen, and a small dining area. Cheryl walked into the bedroom and was even more in awe than she was before. There was a door leading out to a balcony, a huge bathroom with a jacuzzi built inside and… Cheryl sighed.

 

One bed.

 

If Cheryl was in The Office, she’d be looking into the camera right about now.

 

A doorbell-like ringing suddenly sounded over the PA system and an incredibly perky woman sounded off over the speaker.

 

“GREETINGS PASSENGERS! We are so excited to have you on board of this couple’s only cruise. We will now be leaving the dock and starting this romantic journey to Rio! We hope you enjoy your stay!”

 

Cheryl took a deep breath and looked back at her fake girlfriend who was flipping through a room service menu.

 

_**Well. There was no turning back now.** _

 

"Hey uh, do you want anything? I'm starving so I'm going to order in." 

 

Cheryl shook herself out of her thoughts.

 

"No, I'm fine. I think I'm going to go up to the top deck. Get some air you know." 

 

"Usually I would object to you clearly trying to get ahead in this competition, but the flight totally knocked the life out of me and I need a night in if I'm going to kick your ass." Toni kicked off her shoes and flopped down on the bed.

 

"Yeah okay _loser_." Cheryl walked out of the door and made her way upstairs.

 

After Cheryl had gotten herself arranged on one of the lounging chairs with a champagne glass, she started running ideas through her head. _**If the Black Hood was on board what would he even want? There were going to be other wanted criminals on board and if he needed that much help, it had to be something big.**_

 

Suddenly there was a big crash near the buffet table, as some dude tried to carry too many plates at once. Cheryl looked over at the man. He was dressed a little darker than everyone else, panicking because he had dropped the plates, ( _ **or maybe because everyone was suddenly looking at him**_?) and to add to Cheryl's confusion he was wearing a winter hat. It had to be at least 80 degrees out here. _**Gross.**_ The man picked up the plates and the rushed away. Cheryl stood and began to follow, but she lost him in a crowd of dancers near the bar area. _**Damn it.**_

 

Cheryl returned to her spot in the lounge and spent the remainder of the night coming up with theories and looking at all the passengers for any sign of suspicious activity. Finding nothing else out of place besides the winter hat wearing guy by midnight, Cheryl decided to call it quits and made her way back to her room. 

 

When she opened the door, Toni was already asleep with her back facing Cheryl's side of the bed. Cheryl changed into her pajamas, and crawled into the open space. After texting the Captain about the weird man she saw earlier, she picked up the itinerary that was sitting on her nightstand and read through the activities that the captain had set up for them.

 

Day 1: CRUISE TAKE OFF 8:00 PM

Day 2: Couple's Spa @ 3:00 PM 

Day 3: Rock Climbing @ 12:45 PM

Day 4: Movie Night @ 7:30 PM

Day 5: Cooking Class @ 10:30 AM

Day 6: Valentine's Dinner for Two @ 8:00 PM

Day 7: Open Bar Club Night @ 10 PM

 

"Could these be any cheesier?" Cheryl placed the itinerary back on the stand and made herself comfortable. After setting her alarm, Cheryl closed her eyes and was ready to pass out.

 

Tomorrow was going to be the start of a crazy week after all.


	4. Spa Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember that one episode of the Suite Life of Zack and Cody where Maddie pretends to be a masseuse to expose that scammer man?
> 
> Well it's something like that but gayer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i didn't post last week i was goin thru some stuff. hope u guys like this one!!!!!!

_ BOoOOoOOoOOoOy  _

 

_ OHHHHHHHHH KILLING ME SOFTLYYYyyyyyY _

 

Cheryl hit the snooze button on her phone and proceeded to check it. 

 

**_SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10  8:31 AM._ **

**_3 NEW MESSAGES FROM Victoria._ **

 

**_Victoria @ 2:03 AM: HEYYYYY_ **

 

**_Victoria @ 2:03 AM: Ilo Ve YOU_ **

 

**_Victoria @ 2:04 AM: AM drunk miss u loe u callem_ **

 

Cheryl laughed a little at her friend’s drunk texts, but then she felt the bed shifting next to her and she remembered where she was.

 

The middle of nowhere.

 

In bed.

 

With Toni Topaz.

 

She turned her head slightly to see if her temporary partner was awake. Thankfully, the pink-haired girl was still snoring softly under all the covers she stole from Cheryl in the middle of the night.  **_Of course she’s that girl who hogs all the fucking blankets._ ** She made a mental note to go to the front desk and ask for an extra blanket later.

 

Cheryl had decided to wake up a little early so that she could continue the stake out from last night before her mandatory couple’s activity. **_She didn’t see why they had to attend activities anyway. It was a waste of time._ ** But they were the captain’s orders so of course, she would be participating. Before she got up, Cheryl texted her friend back.

 

**_Cheryl @ 8:33 AM: Drink much? I’ll call you when I can. Most likely tomorrow._ **

 

Cheryl put her phone down and slowly rolled off the bed and made her way to her suitcase to pick out an outfit for the day, (A cute top and shorts over a red swimsuit that she could take a dip in if it got to hot) and headed out.

 

Cheryl made her way up to the top deck, and after grabbing some breakfast, she wandered over to a shaded area right along the edge of the main pool. She started going into work mode as she stabbed a couple of watermelon cubes from her bowl. So, Black Hood. Something big. Weird hat guy? Who was he. Look for weird hats. Or should she look for no hats? Was the guy smart enough to try to hide himself if he was the main entertainment of the buffet last night?

 

“Hi there! Is everything going well?” 

 

Cheryl jumped in her seat, nearly flinging all of her fruit on to the floor.

 

“Reggie, hi yes everything is fine.” Cheryl said as she steadied her bowl. 

 

“Okay, just making sure! It is my job to make sure everyone on board is enjoying themselves! Please let me know if you need anything!”

 

“Actually, could you send an extra blanket to my room? Tessa gets cold.” Cheryl cringed at that excuse. It implied that she cared about Toni's well being. Ugh.

 

“Of course! I’ll have an attendant send one down right away! Let me know if you need anything else! I do have to get going though. We’ve got a lot of things happening on this ship!” With that Reggie spun on on his heels and marched off to greet other guests.

 

**_If only you knew._ **

 

She was about to return to studying people when suddenly, a pink blur ran past her chair and cannon balled into the pool, drenching Cheryl with chlorine water. 

 

Cheryl shrieked as she stood to shake off the water she was just drowned in while the culprit was giggling.

 

“Sorry  _ babe _ , you looked a little bored.” Toni laughed, probably because Cheryl couldn’t get angry at her without blowing her cover.

 

Cheryl faked a smile, but then an idea sprung into her head.

 

“You know what, you’re right, I was definitely getting a little warm, I need to jump in for a minute.”

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_It’s possible that this was a bad idea._ **

 

Toni just wanted to fuck around with Cheryl a little bit. You know, get on her nerves just enough to piss her off but not too much?

 

So  **_MAYBE_ **   Toni’s mouth dropped open involuntarily when Cheryl started stripping off the top layer of clothing she had on and  **_MAYBE_ ** her eyes widened when she saw Cheryl standing a few feet in front of her wearing nothing but a bright red bikini that revealed a little more than Toni ever thought she would see of the girl.

 

Another gay panic caused by Cheryl Blossom.  **_Who would’ve thought._ **

 

Her nervousness only increased when Cheryl got closer to the edge of the pool. She gestured for Toni to move back slightly, to which Toni obliged, and then submerged into the water. Cheryl swam even closer to Toni and wrapped her arms around Toni's neck. Toni could feel all of the blood rushing to her face as Cheryl leaned in to whisper something in her ear.

 

“Do that again, and I’ll throw you overboard.  _Babe_ .” 

 

Toni gulped as Cheryl pulled away and got out of the pool to dry herself off and watched her lay back on her chair under the shade. 

 

Toni didn’t know what just happened but she did know that she might throw _herself_ overboard if anything like that ever happened again.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cheryl and Toni stayed out on the top deck for a couple more hours looking out for more suspicious people before they had to leave for the spa appointment they had on the itinerary.

 

Both girls walked down to the floor where the spa was located, Toni making sure to lace their fingers together as other couples walked passed them.

 

Cheryl wasn’t going to lie, her stomach dropped when she felt the smaller girl’s hand in hers for the second time since they got on the ship and she kind of wished she could go into a coma until this week was over. She kept thinking about the little stunt she pulled earlier in the pool. She had no idea what that was, but she did know that she felt pretty damn good seeing Toni drool over her a little. She liked following the rules, but if Toni was going to pull some irritating shit on this trip, Cheryl didn’t mind playing that game right back. However, she was definitely confused on why she could do something so brave and still have butterflies when Toni’s fingers locked with hers.

 

Once they got inside the spa, they were greeted by a blonde woman whose ponytail seemed a little too tight, according to her ever so _forcefully_ perky voice.

 

“Hi ladies! The 3 o’clock appointment I’m assuming? We’re a little behind schedule so you will be right after the 2 o’clock couple that have been patiently sitting over there in the waiting area where you can join them!” The blonde lady gestured toward the couple in the seats across the lobby who were too busy watching the TV to notice what the woman had said. 

 

Seated on the left was a woman, brunette hanging all over some scrawny looking man with an uneven beard and green eyes and **_holy shit._ **

 

**_That’s Nick St. Claire._ **

 

Toni whipped around and released Cheryl’s hand. Cheryl looked at Toni slightly confused as to why she dropped her hand, but did not say anything, hoping that indicated she knew exactly who that man was too.

 

“Actually we aren’t the 3 o’clock, we’re here to cover for your break.” Toni used one of the hair ties on her wrist to put her hair up and then gave the spare one to Cheryl. “We’re new so we are picking up our uniforms from...the locker room.” 

 

“Yes, Reggie sent us.” Cheryl reassured the blonde woman. “He was a little busy handling the buffet upstairs but he told us to just come tell you.”

 

The blonde woman dropped her smile immediately and ripped off her name tag that read  **BETTY.**

 

“Thank GOD. I was really on the verge of snapping my own neck. These couples are so annoying. Ugh I’m exhausted, but I already instructed the 2 o’clock to change into their robes, you just have to prep the room and tell them to come in. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Betty grabbed a journal of some sort as well as a bottle of water, and stomped out of the room.

 

“Well she’s just a ray of sunshine.” Toni whispered, and Cheryl scoffed.

 

**_Ok, maybe she was a little funny._ **

 

Cheryl and Toni both made their way back to the staff locker room as quickly as they could to avoid being seen by the criminal.

 

“So what’s the plan Topaz? Considering you just made us employees of this fine establishment.” Cheryl crossed her arms.

 

“Well…” Toni seemed to take a moment to think, then suddenly started walking around the room, grabbing various items from the walls and laundry baskets. She handed Cheryl a masseuse's uniform with a matching hat and a surgical mask. It looked like she had the same thing left in her own hands. 

 

“We,” Toni took the hat she had and adjusted it onto her head. “Are going to Disney Channel this shit.”

 

After putting on the uniform and tucking their hair into the white hats, Toni and Cheryl walked back out to the lobby. They had formulated a plan with four bullet points that Cheryl made sure to emphasize in order to ensure Toni stick to the plan.

 

-Separate the couple 

\- Check their belongings for evidence

\- Get info

\- Leave

 

Of course, Toni being the most obnoxious person in the universe, decided that now would be a good time to find a way to annoy her without technically breaking the bullet point guideline. 

 

“THE TWO PM APPOINTMENT, WE ARE READY FOR YOU NOW.” Toni screamed in a...

 

British accent? Australian? Italian?

 

“What the fuck was that.” Cheryl whispered to the other detective.

 

“I’ve never done undercover before and since this is a temporary role, I thought I could play around and pretend to be from Germany. Too much?”

 

“Uh yeah, it literally sounds like you’re choking please stop.”

 

“Too late, I’ve already spoken, I have to commit.”

 

Cheryl rolled her eyes but greeted Nick, as he walked past her with his guest into the spa room.

 

Once they were all inside, Cheryl stepped forward to speak. (It wasn’t even about the competition right now, she just needed to keep Toni from using her accent from hell as much as humanly possible.)

 

“Good evening, We will be your spa hosts today, guiding you on all your spa needs. First we must have the young lady in the mud bath, and for the man, a massage. Toni will lead you to the mud room miss.” Toni nodded along with Cheryl and gestured to the connecting door.

 

“Isn’t this a couple’s spa?” Nick honked out. “Why would we be separated?”

 

“UH BECAUSE.’ Toni shouted, which Cheryl guessed was now part of her accent as well? “SOMETIMES THE COUPLES NEED A TIME AWAY FROM EACH OTHER SO THEY CAN COME BACK GOOD AS NEW WITH A REFRESHING FUN FINALE IN THE HOT TUB WOO!” Toni raised her arms and started waving them around while she said “WOO” and Cheryl couldn’t tell if she wanted to cringe or to just start losing her shit right then and there. 

 

“Oh….okay…..” Nick looked slightly scared of Toni and her frantically waving arms, and wasted no more time in lying face down on the massage table. Toni finally stopped moving her arms and led the young woman to the mud room, leaving Cheryl’s sight but not without getting a wink out first.  **_Typical._ **

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Toni led the woman back to the mud room and instructed her to sit in the bath and just relax. **_In her awesome accent she might add._**

 

While the girl was relaxing in the bath, Toni rummaged through her things in the back room where their clothes and personal items had been placed. Toni found the girl’s phone first, and after a few simple guesses after looking through the girl’s purse, she was able to put in the passcode and unlock it. She checked her social medias and bank accounts to try to see if this woman was another accomplice to whatever the Black Hood was planning. She found nothing out of the ordinary anywhere, but did see a direct deposit that was made last night for 500,000 dollars from a account number that she wrote down and stuffed in her bra. She began looking through Nick’s clothes for his phone but only found his wallet, which had nothing special inside besides the keycard with his room number on it. They’d check that out later. 

 

**_Damn it. He probably left his phone in his room for this._ **

 

Toni walked out of the back, returning to the mud room. She had done her job, so now she was ready to see if Cheryl needed any help. 

 

**_Obviously to get information to send in for the competition though. Not because a little part of her actually wanted to help Cheryl._ **

 

After Toni explained to the woman in the mud that she would be right in the other room if she needed anything, Toni made her way back to the massage room where Cheryl was digging the palms of her hands into Nick’s back.

 

“So a business man huh? Got any big jobs for when you’re done with the cruise?”

 

Nick let out a chuckle before answering.

 

“Of course I got big plans _baby_ and I’d love for you to be there with me, a nice girl like you.”

 

Cheryl visibly gagged but she continued asking him questions anyway. She fake laughed and recompose herself.

 

“Oh sir you have a girlfriend already in the other room! Plus I’m sure you’re job isn’t that big anyway..”

 

Playing into his ego? Nice. Toni couldn’t help but admire Cheryl a little bit. She was _good_ under pressure. I mean she was massaging one of the world’s top criminals while taking his misogynistic bullshit. 

 

“I assure you, the job is big. I’m working with one of the biggest names you’ll ever know. I can’t tell you who but just know. He’s going to give me a lot of dough. Plus, it’s right at the end of the cruise, when we stop in Brazil. When I’m done with it, I’ll be able to have 100 girlfriends with me. We can all get cozy at my new mansion. I know you want to join me. You dressed to impress me didn’t you? Those tight pants…” 

 

_**What the fuck was this guy on?**_ First of all he was being extremely creepy towards Cheryl. Tight pants? _ **SHE WAS WEARING A FUCKING WORK UNIFORM.**_ Toni felt gross just thinking about the words coming out of his mouth. She wanted to punch him so badly just for talking to her like that. The dumbass _was_ giving away a lot of information though, and Toni was going to let her continue getting him to talk. He was going to jail regardless if they found Black Hood or not. Toni would see to it herself if she had to, and she made a mental note to tell Fogarty and Kevin to follow him around and make sure no other girls would be a target of his disgusting harassment. In addition to that, Cheryl would probably have an aneurysm if Toni did anything to disrupt her bullet points and plus Cheryl could literally snap his neck if she wanted to, so she wasn’t super concerned right now. 

 

Until he pushed up slightly and reached back to try to grab her ass.

 

Fuck the bullet points.

 

“HOT ROCK TIME” Toni screamed in her accent and moved the cart of hot rocks towards Nick. (The light on the side said they were still too hot for comfort but Toni couldn’t give less of a shit about this moron’s comfort.) Him and Cheryl both jumped and Nick snapped his hand back up to the table he was laying on. Cheryl looked up at Toni with gratitude in her eyes as she mouthed “Thanks.” Toni nodded and continued moving the cart forward.

 

“Um actually I didn’t order hot rocks so if you could just leave me and my lady alo- AHHhHH.”

 

Toni placed a steaming stone onto Nick’s back causing him to writhe in pain. _**Good, you fucking asswipe.**_

 

“I don’t think this is part of the scheduled OW ohOH AH.” Toni placed another stone on to Nick’s back, steam sizzling up from where she had placed it.

 

“Oh this is definitely part of the spa experience.” Cheryl took a stone and dropped it on to Nick’s back, making him whimper once more.

 

“You BITCHES will NEVER ride the St. Clair express!” Nick tried to push himself up but Cheryl dropped another stone onto his back, pushing it in so that Nick was once again flat on the table.

 

“I don’t remember buying a ticket for that train do you?” Toni looked at Cheryl and Cheryl shook her head.”

 

“Nope. And consent is key fucker.” Cheryl turned to Toni and lowered her voice “Let’s get out of here we got decent info.” Toni nodded and dropped one more stone onto St. Clair before following Cheryl.

 

“I’M GOING TO GET YOU TWO FIRED. I’LL SUE EVEN. KISS THIS JOB AND YOUR LIVES GOODBYE.” Nick must’ve been hurting because he wasn’t even trying to stand up anymore.

 

“Don’t bother. WE QUIT!” Toni screamed dramatically and laughed at herself when she heard her accent at the end of that sentence. Ok, maybe Cheryl was right it was kind of horrible. But she looked over at the redhead and she was laughing just as hard as Toni was. They both strutted out of the spa and started looking for a place to strip off their fake uniforms.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cheryl and Toni both made their way back up to their room after finding a spot to ditch their uniforms down in the basement where the cameras wouldn’t see them. They managed to make it back upstairs without being caught by a camera too. It took a lot of crawling and really unnecessary somersaults from Toni who was probably trying to annoy Cheryl but honestly?

 

She was starting to think it was cute.

 

**_Um did she just think that out loud? Gross._ **

 

The detectives got into their room and flopped down on the bed in silence before they started hysterically laughing. Tears were streaming down both of their faces before they could even catch a breath to speak.

 

“He really said ‘The St. Clair Express’ as if his dick is longer than 2 centimeters.” 

 

Cheryl kept laughing and added “As if we aren’t gay as hell.”

 

Toni chuckled. ‘Bisexual actually, but whenever he talked I was 100% leaning the complete opposite way. Some men are fun, but this guy..”

 

“Made you want to rip your hair out? Yeah.” Cheryl rubbed her forehead and turned her head to face Toni. “Thanks for coming in when you did. If he would’ve touched me I probably would’ve broken his wrist.”

 

Toni wiped her eyes. “Yeah well your cover is my cover.” Toni turned to face Cheryl too. “Plus girls have to be there for each other, especially with sleazeballs like that. Regardless of our capabilities to snap wrists or not.”

 

“Yeah um,” Cheryl felt herself blushing from the amount of eye contact she was getting from Toni, so she sat up. “At least his dumbass spilled some information that will easily get us started. I’ll call it in to the Captain.”

 

“And get all the points? I don’t think so. This is still war, don’t get it twisted.” Toni sat up too, smirking a little too smuggishly if you asked Cheryl. **_God she’s so fucking annoying._**

 

“So much for girls being there for each other.”

 

“Hey come on I’m kidding. A little.”

 

“Unbelievable.” 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

After the spa incident, and their little chat about who was going to call in what information, Cheryl went to stake out the top deck again and Toni went to relax in the hot tub and got dinner for the rest of the evening. After showering and climbing into bed, Toni took the time to think about everything that had happened. Toni didn’t want to admit it, but she had fun today. She got Cheryl to break a lot of her uptight undercover rules. Hell they even burned some egotistical buttmunch together, which Toni would’ve never thought Cheryl would do. 

 

_**Stop it Toni. Keep your eye on the prize.** _

 

Cheryl ended up convincing Toni to let her call in a majority of what they found out today.

 

_**Wait a minute.**_  

 

Cheryl got her to let her guard down. And ended up taking a majority of the points. She probably did this on purpose. Toni grabbed a big chunk of the blanket and wrapped it around her body.

 

Okay so maybe she was over thinking. Maybe she was assuming things. But she had definitely softened her up, and there was no way Toni could let herself get like that. Not on a case like this

 

_**Tomorrow’s a new day,**_ Toni told herself, and she knew there was no backing down when that day came.. she promised herself that. Cheryl’s going to try to beat her with head games that made her vulnerable? Well Toni could beat her at the real objectives. The things that mattered. The competition.

 

_**Game on Blossom.** _

 

Game on.


	5. Rock Climbing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica has some news, Toni's afraid of heights, and Cheryl has two conversations she did not think she would ever have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey skinnies long time no see :D

Cheryl had been sitting on their suite balcony for about an hour now. She had woken up and decided to treat herself to some room service breakfast before doing her daily stakeout. Toni was still asleep and it was only 9 am, so she decided to call Veronica back and update her on yesterday’s spa events.

 

The phone rang 4 times before someone answered.

 

“ _Hello?_ ”

 

And that someone was definitely not Veronica.

 

“Uh, hi.” Cheryl responded to the woman on the other end of the line. “Is….this is Veronica’s number right?”

 

“ _Yeah sorry she told me to answer, she’s in the restroom and she didn’t want to miss you. She’s coming now hold on._ ”

 

Cheryl waited, her confusion growing as she heard shuffling on the other end of the line.

 

“ _Hey miss Blossom, how are you? How is the cruise?_ ”

 

“Hold on V, who was that?”

 

There was a pause. A little bit too long of one if Cheryl had anything to say about it.

 

“ _Um just….a girl…._ ”

 

“A girl huh, are you replacing me?”

 

“ _Hell no, you know you’re my one and only! But um...I kind of went out the other night…..and sort of brought this girl home..._ ”

 

Cheryl nearly choked on her tea.

 

“Wait you _WHAT_?”

 

“ _Ok so, Moose asked me to accompany him to this new gay club because he’s lonely so since I was freshly short a bestie and incredibly bored, I told him I would go with-_ ”

 

“Moose, like _next door neighbor_ Moose? I didn’t know he was gay.”

 

“ _Bisexual, but would you let me finish?”_ Veronica sounded unusually nervous, so Cheryl shut her mouth. _“So we got to the place, which was so cute we’re definitely going when you get back by the way, and I’m hanging back, not drinking because I want to let Moose have his fun, when I see this girl on the dance floor like killing it. And she’s drop dead gorgeous like she gave Toni at the airport a run for her money._ ”

 

**_Doubtful._** But Cheryl wasn't going to say that.

 

“ _So I go up to her to dance and have fun….but then we start like….making out….and not to sound like Camila Cabello or anything, but I was_ _**into it.** _ ****_Okay ew that was cringe but anyway,_ _at first I was like am I being that hetero girl right now? Making out with gay girls? But then I realized I was definitely not hetero because if I was I wouldn't be desperately wanting her to come home with me…..things escalated…..and we came back to my place…...and long LONG, like longer than any boy I’ve ever met, story short...we had sex. But then afterward we just....hung out, and she’s amazing Cher, she likes all the same things I do and every time she would laugh at one of my jokes I would get these butterflies in my stomach. And we got a little drunk which explains some texts I sent you obviously. When I got her a Lyft, she asked if I wanted to get brunch today as sort of like a date thing and I said yes so here we are._ ”

 

Cheryl realized her mouth had dropped open somewhere along the story.

 

“ _Cher_?” Veronica asked, panic beginning to fill her voice.

 

“THANK GOD!!!!!” Cheryl whipped around to make sure her scream didn’t just wake her sleeping fake girlfriend. “Thank the fucking lord she is real. Ugh I’ve been WAITING.”

 

“ _What do you mean you’ve been waiting_???”

 

“V, you’ve literally hit on multiple women in front of me. In the same day. You were basically drooling over Toni at the airport. When we saw Thor Ragnarok you wouldn’t stop saying that you’d let Hela and Valkyrie tag team you.”

 

“ _Um a lot of straight people say they would go gay for certain people_.”

 

“Veronica, they were the only two women in the movie. Plus you say that after every movie we ever see. Ever.”

 

“ _WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME I WAS GAY?_ ”

 

“WHY THE FUCK WOULD I BE THE ONE TO TELL YOU THAT?”

 

“ _Hm….you got me there_.”

 

Cheryl let out a laugh. Was this a serious conversation she was having right now?

 

“You know I love you no matter what you do, plus hello I AM a lesbian myself. And after all you’ve done for me? You could tell me you were dating the tea you ordered from Starbucks and I would support you. I’m proud of you. I mean getting a girl before me??”

 

“ _Hey you know you could’ve beat me in that race, don’t do that._ ”

 

And Cheryl could’ve. She knew that. It’s just….

 

“ _We are not bringing the demon mother into this Cher. She does not control you anymore. Which is why when you get back, we are hitting that club and totally getting you a REAL girlfriend. Speaking of, how is that going_?”

 

Cheryl was about to speak when she heard another muffled voice on the other side of the phone.

 

“ _Hey Veronica, I don’t want to interrupt but the reservation is in 20.._ ”

 

Veronica probably covered the microphone because the next thing she said came out muffled too.

 

“ _Oh my god I’m so sorry Heather I’ll be out in a sec!” A clearer Veronica came through the line. “Saved by the bell! You’ll have to dish later. Love you, please survive and tell Toni I’m so over her now!_ ”

 

“Love you too little miss LGBT.”

 

“ _Shut up_.”

 

Cheryl hung up the phone and jumped a little when the door opened behind her.

 

“I’m going to the hot tub.” Toni was talking really weird. Almost robot-like.

 

"Oh, well here I have some left over breakfast if you want s-"

 

"Yeah no thanks." Toni replied, again in a monotone voice. "I don't know what you're doing, but we have that stupid rock climbing thing at 12:45. I'll see you there. After Toni finished, she let the sliding door slam shut.

 

Cheryl was confused. Was she mad at her or something? She was pretty sure the spa day had left both of them in a good mood, so she didn’t know why Toni was acting so cold.

 

_**Not that she cared. She just didn’t want to be in a bad mood. I mean who does?** _

 

Cheryl waited for Toni to leave before she got dressed and headed up to the top deck

————————————————————

After a _very_ long hot tub trip, Toni pulled herself out of the water to shower and get ready for rock climbing. She didn’t really want to be in the hot tub for as long as she was, but she _did_ want to avoid Cheryl as much as she could without blowing their cover. Couples need time apart too right? She figured the less time she needed to spend with Cheryl, the less capable it was for her to manipulate her into letting her win the challenge. Toni was determined to get out of whatever spell Blossom had put on her last night.

 

Toni made her way up to where the rock climbing wall was and spotted Cheryl standing awkwardly to the side.

 

Awkwardly and **_totally adorably._**

 

_**Was that even a word?** _

 

Toni stopped herself, and walked towards her. _**Time for an Oscar.**_

 

“Hey baby, sorry I’m late, I totally forgot to check my phone for the time.” Toni kissed Cheryl on the cheek and-

 

Was Cheryl blushing?

 

**_Okay that’s really cute…._ **

 

**_GET IT TOGETHER TOPAZ!_ **

 

“Hi, it’s ok you made it just in time.”

 

Toni looked away from her fake girlfriend and over to the wall.

 

The very

 

**_Very_ **

 

High wall.

 

Toni gulped as all the color drained from her face.

 

“Uh are you ok?” Cheryl had noticed Toni’s sudden nervousness and looked at her with curiosity.

 

“You don’t have to climb the wall if you don’t want to.”

 

**_Was this another head game? Did Cheryl think she couldn’t do it?_ **

 

“No I can do it. AND I’ll beat you. That’s a bet.”

 

Cheryl’s concern vanished and her eyes rolled. **_That’s more like it._ **

 

“Do we have any volunteers to go first?” The rock climbing instructor scanned the audience.

 

Toni raised her hand in confidence and grabbed Cheryl’s hand with the other. “Us! We would love to go first.”

 

Cheryl looked startled but then nodded and said “Yup that's my girlfriend. Always so. Competitive.”

 

After both of them geared up, Toni prepared herself mentally to climb the wall.

 

_**Ok Topaz just don’t look down. You’ll be fine.** _

 

“On your marks, get set...GO!”

 

Toni began climbing the wall, one step after the other, steadily but quickly progressing upward. She could see Cheryl in the corner of her eye and she thinks she has the lead, but she isn’t completely sure. Toni started taking risks, pulling herself up without even placing her foot on rocks. **_Beat me with the rules now Blossom._**

 

Somehow, Cheryl was still keeping up, Toni ahead by merely centimeters. They were both nearing the buzzer, but Toni pulled ahead slightly and slammed her palm onto the button, setting off the light at the top of the wall.

 

Toni let out a sigh of relief as the rest of the couples below cheered for her, and she was finally able to catch her breath.

 

“Whatever Topaz.” Cheryl said. Already making her way down the wall.

 

Unfortunately Toni looked down to see her.

 

**_Fuck._ **

 

It was like the entire floor was making its way towards Toni while the entire room was spinning at the same time. Toni started to shake, closed her eyes, and held on tighter to the wall.

 

\---------------------------------------------

 

Cheryl was near the bottom of the ground now, after losing to her own personal girlfriend from hell. Toni again winning another competition just to make Cheryl feel like garbage.  _ **She has to put up with 5 more days of this? She'd rather jump overboard.**_ To think yesterday she had believed that something might be able to change between them.

 

Once Cheryl's feet touched the floor, she was ready to start acting like she enjoyed Toni’s company again. At least until she could stop.

 

Only Toni wasn’t on the ground next to her.

 

“What the-”

 

Cheryl looked up, and Toni was still on the very top of the wall, clinging to the rocks much tighter than she was before. _**Was she shaking?**   _Then it clicked and Cheryl realized what had happened.  _ **This idiot really climbed the wall while being afraid of heights.**_  

 

The instructor walked over to Cheryl. “Is she ok?”

 

“Um yeah I don’t know she’s probably just messing around.”

 

_**Karma is real**_. Cheryl couldn’t help but chuckle to herself a little bit.

 

“TESS? WHAT'S WRONG?”

 

Toni tightened her grip further, and Cheryl could see her knuckles growing whiter.

 

“I CAN'T GET DOWN.”

 

Toni’s voice cracked when she said it, and Cheryl started to feel bad for laughing.

 

“WAIT ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

 

“UH...YEAH.”

 

Cheryl was still strapped in to the harness, so she looked over at the instructor. “Is it ok if I…” Cheryl gestured up to the small shaking mess that was Detective Topaz. The instructor nodded their head.

 

“OK JUST HOLD ON!”

 

Cheryl started climbing again, making her way towards Toni. Once she finally got close enough, Cheryl spoke out.

 

“Hey um, I’m here.” Cheryl gently placed her hand on Toni’s shoulder so Toni knew it was ok to look at her, She opened her eyes, but kept looking up at the ceiling.

 

“This is so fucking embarrassing.”

 

“I told you you didn’t have to climb it.”

 

“I thought you were trying to psych me out.”

 

“Not everything’s a competition.”

 

“HEY CAN YOU HURRY IT UP YOU GUYS? EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET THEIR CLIMB TIME IN!”

 

Cheryl looked down at the instructor and nodded her head.

 

“Look can you just come down? You don’t have to look down, you can look at me.”

 

“I really just, I can’t.”

 

Cheryl sighed and tried to come up with a solution. Once she finally had one,she wasn't so fond of it. But she had to get Toni back to the ground.

 

“Ok well, you need to get down somehow so..” Cheryl wrapped her arm around the shaking detective. “You’re gonna have to hold on to me.”

 

Toni was hesitant. She looked like she was going to protest but then accidentally looked down again.

 

"Okok" In one quick maneuver, Toni allowed herself to cling onto Cheryl now instead of the wall. Her eyes were still closed, when Cheryl began to descend back to the floor.

 

Cheryl’s face was engulfed in pink hair, but it was actually kind of nice. She smelled like vanilla and strawberries, and it made Cheryl feel warm, sending off butterflies all around her stomach.

 

Once they were on the floor, Toni pulled back slowly, and looking into Cheryl’s eyes as her head separated from Cheryl's chest. Cheryl’s heart couldn’t help but flutter a little bit.

 

_**Jesus Christ what the hell are you doing?** _

 

Before either of them could say anything, the rock climbing crew began to take the harnesses off of them, forcing the eye contact to break.

 

“Well wasn’t that an adorable rescue! Now who else would like to climb? Hopefully someone a little better with heights!” Cheryl turned around to look at the instructor who was speaking and then turned back to look at Toni, but Toni had already disappeared.

 

\-------------------------------------------

 

Toni couldn’t believe that just happened. She was making her way to the bathroom to try and compose herself of the ridiculousness she had just caused. Not only that, but she was trying to shake off the massive thumping of her chest that she was positive Cheryl could feel while she was grasping on to her.

 

She couldn’t help it. That side of Cheryl had decided to jump out again today. Not the uptight annoying side she had come to make fun of so well, but the soft side. The side that climbs rock walls to rescue you from going **splat** on a cruise ship's floor. Plus no one had ever really saved her like that. She was always the one doing the saving.

 

And being in someone else's arms felt really nice. Cheryl’s arms to be exact.

 

The thumping continued.

 

Toni kept thinking about what Cheryl had said about not everything being a competition. She sort of felt like shit for thinking Cheryl was trying to play head games with her.  Why was she so paranoid? She never got like this, so why now?

 

Toni didn’t know the answer. But what she did know, was that she owed Cheryl an apology.

 ————————————————————

Cheryl had gone up to the top deck to continue her stakeout after the wall incident. She ended up overhearing some information about the weird hat guy from the other day and then waited to see if she could find anything more suspicious. When nothing else turned up by the time it got dark, Cheryl headed down to her room, ready for the day to be over.

 

When Cheryl unlocked the door, a certain tiny detective sprang up from the couch to look at her.

 

“Hi.”

 

Cheryl put her purse on the table and cautiously walked towards the living area.

 

“Hi?”

 

"I was waiting for you to come back. I wanted to tell you something..." Toni motioned for Cheryl to come sit on the couch with her. Confused, but not unwilling, Cheryl kicked off her shoes and made her way over to the sofa.

 

“Look, I just…. I want to say I’m sorry for um. Being kind of cold this morning.” Toni was playing with her hands. Was the she.. apologizing?

 

“I just assumed you were trying to fuck with me, and I thought if I just talked to you as minimally as possible, that it would lessen the chance of me getting messed with.”

 

Toni finally looked up from her hands to Cheryl. “Clearly, that wasn’t your intention because for one thing, if I would have listened to you I wouldn’t have gotten stuck at all. For another, I don’t think if you were trying to mess with me that you would’ve carried me down from the top. Thanks for that by the way.”

 

Toni seemed to be waiting for a response now, so Cheryl opened her mouth.

 

“I was definitely not trying to mess with you. I don’t know why you would think that considering you’re the one always trying to mess with me, not the other way around.” Cheryl crossed her arms and Toni shifted her body towards her.

 

“I guess you’re right. I don’t know what happened. I thought you were trying to get in my head, when really I was the one getting in my own head.” Toni scratched the back of her scalp, “What did you mean when you said that not everything is a competition?”

 

It was Cheryl’s turn to look down now. “You always make it into this big thing.” Cheryl rubbed her eyes. “There’s never any support you want from a coworker with you. It’s like you want to prove you’re better than me, instead of acknowledging that we’re both good at what we do.”

 

“It’s just some fun competition.”

 

“Not when it’s everyday. You’re exhausting. And honestly it makes me feel like garbage.”

 

Toni sighed and Cheryl could feel her eyes on her now.

 

“I’m sorry. I just thought it was banter, I had no idea it was wearing you out. I know you’re good at what you do. You’re actually amazing, which is why I always want to compete with you. It’s like if I can keep up with you then I can do anything.”

 

Cheryl could feel herself blushing.

 

“Plus you’re always so uptight about rules and stuff so it bugged me. It’s impossible not to want to bug you back.”

 

Cheryl rolled her eyes “Your apology was going so well!”

 

“Hey I’m not done!” Toni laughed, and Cheryl's stomach involuntarily flipped at the noise.

 

“I broke the rock climbing rules to get to the top first and look where that got me! I barely won, and ended up looking like an ass in front of 50 different rock climbing couples.”

 

Cheryl looked up “You deserved it.”

 

“Maybe I did,” Toni laughed again. _**Flip.**_ “But I don’t want anything to be a competition anymore. Well other than the competition, but we can be civil about it. Get the info we need with no interior motives to steal the other person’s work last second. Or mess with them. We do it to take down the bad guys and whoever wins just wins.”

 

Cheryl couldn’t believe she was having yet another conversation she never thought she would be having today. “This isn’t some trick right? You’re not going to break my phone in the middle of the night to stop me from sending the info I got today in to HQ?”

 

“If I wanted to do that I already would’ve. But no this is not a trick. I swear on my life. I’m being 100% serious.” Toni held out her hand so Cheryl could shake it. “Deal?”

 

Cheryl smiled softly at Toni in return and took her hand.

 

“Deal.”

 

Toni smiled back and took a breath in. 

 

"Well since we're being civil now, how about we order some room service and you spill this info you got today so we can work on how to approach it together tomorrow."

 

Cheryl shook her head, a smile still sitting on her face. "Back to the game already. You're unbelievable."

 

"So I've been told."


	6. Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone loves a shady maid  
> but not everyone loves DCEU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi sorry this took so long, im just trying to make the best possible story for yall and i know if i rush it it'll sound like im on crack and i figure you already have glee for crack storylines so here i am taking my time

“So now that we have our coffee, refresh my brain. What’d you find out about Mr. Hat again?”

 

Toni set down her mug and Cheryl took a sip from hers before responding. 

 

“Well, I saw one of the maids speaking to our man in the hat, and instead of chasing after him like last time-”

 

“Because last time he bolted.”

 

“Right, I figured it’d be best not to trigger him again and to just ask the maid a few questions.”

 

“And how exactly, did you get them to answer such personal questions?”

 

“Apparently the pay to be a cleaning maid on this cruise isn’t exactly ideal, so I offered him $50to tell me what room the hat guy was staying in and what time he sees him leave the room. He didn't even think about it before snatching the money from my hand."

 

“Is bribing a maid part of the rules?” 

 

“It is when they’re shady.”

 

“You gotta love a shady maid.”

 

Toni laughed, and there was that _stupid_ flip again.

 

Cheryl shift and looked down. _**Maybe if Toni would stop laughing like that, her stomach would chill out.**_ But since last night, it had been bouncing off the walls. ** _It’s not like she could help it, it wasn’t her own fault that Toni had one of the most enticing laughs in the world._ ** Cheryl had felt something change in their relationship last night, even though all they did after she had explained what happened the first time, was go to sleep. It was obvious that Toni felt the same way too. It took everything she had for Cheryl to control the giant grin she had felt forming on her face when Toni asked if Cheryl wanted to get coffee and discuss mission tactics.

 

_**Together.** _

 

“Hello, earth to Blossom.”

 

Cheryl snapped out of her thoughts as Toni waved her hand in front of her face.

 

“Sorry, what?”

 

“I said, so what are we gonna do now that we know the room?” 

 

“Oh,” Cheryl focused her attention once more. “I thought we could pull another Disney Channel thing. Dress up as maids, get inside. He has to leaves for food often according to the maid.”

 

“Hmm…” Toni squinted her eyes and tilted her head slightly. “Dressing up again is tempting, but I think I can grab a keycard without the hassle of hunting down a maid’s outfit.”

 

It was Cheryl’s turn to be skeptical.

 

“Really? And how do you plan to do that?”

 

Toni suddenly lost the confidence she had, and broke eye contact. "Uhhh..."

 

Cheryl sat forward, suddenly very intrigued. “What are you hiding Topaz?” she said, a smirk forming on her face.

 

“Well...I’m sort of a really good pick pocket….becauseiusedtobeinagang.”

 

Cheryl nearly choked on her coffee. “I’m sorry, WHAT?”

 

Toni put her drink down so she could scratch the back of her neck. Her cheeks were red.

 

_**Flip.** _

 

“Things were...hard. In high school.I had to pay off a trailer all on my own because god knows my parents weren’t going to do it.” Toni laughed awkwardly and Cheryl’s face softened. “So I joined a gang and they taught me how to make some extra cash. They were my family for a while. They weren’t evil though, and once I realized I wanted out of being a criminal, they let me leave. I turned my life around and got here.”

 

Cheryl sat back, surprise sitting on her face. **_Did Toni just open up to her?_**

 

“I’m sure you’re questioning my credibility as a cop now right?” Toni was smiling, but her eyes were clearly filled with panic. _**Did she think Cheryl was going to arrest her or something?**_  “I don’t blame you if you do..”

 

Cheryl took another sip of her coffee and placed her empty hand ever so gently on top of Toni’s.

 

_**Flip.** _

 

“Topaz, the only thing I’m questioning is how you were in a gang for years, but are still deathly afraid of heights.”

 

Toni’s eyes lightened with relief. “Shut up Blossom.” She ran a hand through her hair, and let out another laugh.

 

_**Flipflipflipflip.** _

 

“No but seriously, I don’t think you’re a bad person, past or present. You wouldn’t be so competitive with me to stop real criminals if you weren’t.”

 

Toni made heavy eye contact before looking down at their hands, which were still connected. 

 

Cheryl’s chest filled with panic and she patted Toni’s hand awkwardly before moving it back to their own space.

 

“Well we have some undercover work to do, so get those pickpocketing skills ready because we’re gonna bust into Mr. Hat’s room.”

 

\---------------------------------------------------------

 

After finishing their coffee, Cheryl and Toni got ready and made their way downstairs to the room in which the hat guy was supposed to be staying in. When they arrived, Toni went on the search for a maid she could swipe a keycard from.

 

“Be right back.” Toni disappeared down the hallway while Cheryl looked for a realistic place to hide out of site from the door. Luckily on the opposite side of the elevators there was a corner, perfect enough for the detectives to stand behind without being seen from hat guy’s room even if he walked out to ride the elevator to the buffet.

 

After a few solid minutes, Cheryl could see Toni wandering the hallway looking for her companion, so Cheryl stepped out and waved her over. Toni speed walked over until she was behind the corner wall. 

 

“Step 1 complete.” Toni held up her keycard with a giant smile on her face.

 

_**God she was cute.** _

 

_**Ugh.** _

 

“Okay now we wait. According to the shady maid-”

 

“Bless shady maids around the world..”

 

“The hat guy usually leaves at around-” 

 

Suddenly the suspect’s door swung open and the man in the hat appeared. He was dressed in dark grungy clothing, accompanied by his infamous hat. He looked both ways before beelining his way to the elevator. Once he was inside and the doors closed, Cheryl and Toni ran from behind the wall and slipped the key into the lock. Once the green light blinked, they turned the door handle and walked inside.

 

“Well we definitely lucked out in the cabin department.”

 

Toni was right. Cheryl looked around the room. 

 

The space was barely ¼ of what their suite was. A TV was hung up on one wall, next to a door that lead to a bathroom and another door that Cheryl guessed was a very small closet. On the opposite wall was an outline of a rectangle, which could only be assumed to be a pull out wall bed.

 

Cheryl stepped into the bathroom to look for anything suspicious and spotted a wallet. Toni walked over to her.

 

“What’d you find?” 

 

Cheryl opened the wallet and looked through the various cards. 

 

“ _Forsythe Jones III_?” Cheryl took out his ID.

 

“Well he definitely sounds like a criminal mastermind.” Toni chuckled and took the ID out of Cheryl’s  hand slightly brushing their fingers together. 

 

_**FLIP.** _

 

“But if he left his wallet here, don’t you think he might come ba-”

 

Suddenly the lock on the door clicked. Toni shoved the ID back into the wallet and placed it back on the sink before Cheryl pulled her into the tiny closet with her.

 

Cheryl didn’t know how they fit inside together. The girls were chest to chest, arms awkwardly entangled and both were holding their breath. Cheryl saw the light go on and off in the bathroom, and then heard the door open and shut once more. Both detectives let out a sigh.

 

“I think he’s gone.” Toni’s voice cracked. _**Was she nervous?**_   Maybe it was the just because of their near brush with being caught. _ **Or maybe it was because of how close they were.**_  She could basically feel Toni’s heart beating. She wondered if Toni could feel hers too.

 

_**FLIPFLIPFLIPFLIP.** _

 

“Right.” Cheryl opened the door and released them from the tiny enclosure, but she regretted it when she could feel the blood rush to her cheeks. 

 

“Well um, there’s nothing else to really look for….so what do we do now?”

 

Cheryl thought for a moment before walking over to the rectangle in the wall. She pulled it down.

 

“Holy shit.”

 

On the wall hidden behind the bed was an evidence board, red thread and all. Pictures of various faces of criminals that had been in Cheryl’s mission briefing file that she had studied before boarding, connected to post-its with names. All the thread lead to one post-it that only had a question mark on it.

 

“He’s looking for the Black Hood too?” Cheryl moved in closer to the board. “It looks like he has information about a diamond?” Cheryl squinted at the picture of the jewel connected to the rest of the criminals right next to the question mark.

 

“That’s what they must be doing on the ship.” Toni inspected the board as well. “It must have something to do with this diamond.”

 

“Who the hell is this guy? And how the fuck did he find out about all of this before us?”

 

Toni seemed to have noticed something and climbed on top of the bed. She reached for a small black lanyard that was wedged between the wall and the mattress and pulled it out. Attached was a small white card with a photo of the hat man on it. A work ID.

 

“He’s a journalist.” Toni held up the ID so Cheryl could see. “He must’ve gotten tipped off or something. There’s no way he could’ve known all of this before we did. But who would know this much about the diamond in the first place to tip off some random journalist? Unless….”

 

“It was someone working with the criminals.”

 

“Do you think......"

 

“It was the Black Hood feeding his ego? No. This guy  doesn’t like to be seen. If he did he wouldn’t have disappeared for so long. No, this has to be from someone else on the team. Someone who wants to get caught. I doubt that the Black Hood even knows he has a traitor among him.”

 

“The plot thickens.”

 

“Should we talk to him? The hat guy?  There’s gotta be more he knows.”

 

“Yeah but I don’t think cornering him in his room will make him talk. We have to be mysterious. I mean the guy wouldn’t even leave the job up to the professionals. He had to do it himself.”

 

“So what are you suggesting?”

 

“We leave a little note telling him to meet us somewhere in a few hours. It’ll spark his intrigue, especially since it has to do with the case. He’ll want to know everything we do.”

“Okay.” Cheryl pushed the bed back into place while Toni wrote the note on a stray piece of paper with a pen she pulled out of her pocket. Once she was done, she placed it right in front of the door as they exited and closed the door behind them.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

After waiting several hours, Toni and Cheryl made their way down to the laundry room where they had told hat guy to meet them. 

 

“So are we just giving up our identities as detectives?” Cheryl looked over at Toni, who hopped on top of one of the off dryers. 

 

“We don’t have to. It depends on how he-”

 

“WHO ARE YOU AND HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE BLACK HOOD?” 

 

Standing in the doorway was the hat guy and he had pepper spray in his hands, aiming it towards Cheryl.

 

“Oh this has to be a fucking joke.” Toni jumped down from the dryer to stand slightly in front of Cheryl. She knew it was only pepper spray, and that Cheryl could handle herself, but she couldn't overcome the feeling of protectiveness that was tugging at her stomach.

 

“WHO ARE YOU?” hat dude took a step closer, threatening to spray at any moment.

 

“First of all Sherlock Hobo, you need to stop screaming unless you want everyone on the ship to know theyre bunking with some of the world’s top criminals.” Cheryl took several steps forward and knocked the pepper spray out of the dude’s hand, causing him to backtrack. Then she twisted his arm into an awkward position making him wince. “Second of all, you’re going to tell us who you are.

 

Toni’s breath hitched.

 

_**That was really hot.** _

 

“What she said.” Toni composed herself and strode over to where the other two people in the room were standing.

 

The man remained silent until Cheryl twisted his arm further. 

 

“OW ow ok ok.” The man tried to get Cheryl to release her grip but Cheryl only rolled her eyes. “My name is Jughead. I’m a journalist. Independent. I got a tip off that the Black Hood was on board and was planning to pick up a giant diamond with the help of a bunch of other criminals.” He shuffled, still struggling to feel comfortable under Cheryl’s grasp.

 

“ _Jughead_?” Toni smirked, and Cheryl was trying her best to hide a laugh herself. 

_**So.** _

 

_**Cute.** _

 

“It’s a nickname”

 

“Yeah a bad one.” 

 

Jughead rolled his eyes, and Cheryl continued to hold him down. “So how did you get on board anyway? This is a couple’s cruise and you don’t have a second party.”’

 

“This was my only shot to get this huge story. I snuck on board and avoided the head of the ship. Haven't brought attention to myself. Everything has been working just fine. Well at least it seemed to be."

 

“You literally take out trays of food at the buffet, trust me, there’s a lot of attention. Even after I chased after you, you still go back to the exact same place?" Cheryl released his arm.

 

“A guy’s gotta eat.” Jughead rubbed his sore limb and looked at them questioningly. “So how do you guys know about the Black Hood? And how did you get into my room?”

 

Cheryl looked over at Toni, not knowing what to respond. Toni took her cue. “Why don’t you tell us who told you about the Black Hood being here?”

 

Jughead looked like he was about to protest, but then Cheryl cracked a knuckle, and he looked down at the floor looking slightly frightened. Toni smiled.

 

_**You're doing amazing sweetie.** _

 

“I don’t know. I was emailed from an anonymous source who sent me proof that this crap was real. I tried to trace them down, but the results led to nothing. They emailed me again to make sure I was going to find out what was going down on the ship and to stop it. But I don’t have all the information I need yet.”

 

Cheryl and Toni looked at each other, and then back at Jughead. Toni stepped forward. “You aren’t going to stop them. But we are.” 

 

Cheryl tugged slightly on Toni’s arm. “What are you doing.” She whispered, but Toni shrugged her off. 

 

“We can stop them if you keep giving us the information you get. You just want the story right? You can run it. But only if you let us do the work. AND you have to wait until the cruise is over.”

 

Jughead squinted at the pink haired girl and then chuckled. “I’m sorry, but why would I need your permission to do anything?” 

 

Toni moved forward, causing Jughead to back up and fall into a laundry basket.

“Because Jugbrain, if you don’t listen to me you’re going to get hurt, either by me or those criminals AND we’ll arrest you for illegally sneaking on a ship.” 

 

Jughead raised an eyebrow. “You’re cops?”

 

Toni backed away. “Detectives. Undercover, by the way so if you want the story and you don’t want us to send you off this ship right now, I suggest you keep that bit of information to yourself. We exchange numbers, you give us every detail you have on the investigation with absolutely _no_ exceptions and we all get what we want. Do we have a deal?”

 

Jughead struggled, but was finally able to stand up. He extended his hand and Toni took it. 

 

“Deal.”

 

“Perfect.” Toni dropped his hand and wiped her own against her pant leg. “We meet tomorrow to discuss what you find out.”

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“What the hell was that?” Cheryl was trailing behind Toni now, a few feet away from the laundry room. Toni spun around.

 

“Look I know you didn’t want to tell him who we are, but he obviously had too thick of a skull to let us do this without question so I had to do what I had to do to get information.”

 

“Yeah that’s fine but saying we were going to stop him? We were told strictly not to intervene and since listening is all we were equipped to do, we could get hurt if we try to do anything more. It’s not safe.”

 

Toni walked dangerously close to Cheryl. Dangerous because for some reason, Cheryl couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the fact that Toni’s lips looked relatively better than she had ever noticed before.

 

“We can do this. If we stay low and find out all we can, we can stop the Black Hood before he finishes whatever he’s trying to do. We got this.” Toni was looking straight into her eyes. _**Damn it.**_

 

_**They're so pretty.** _

 

“Okay.” Cheryl took a breath and stepped back before she allowed herself to be reeled in any further. “But we tell our partners that we’ve blown our covers. They need to be on the lookout for us if things go crazy and we can’t get out.”

 

“Agreed.” Toni held out her hand and Cheryl took it in response, shaking it and letting her hand linger for a moment longer before releasing Toni’s and dropping her hand back to her side.

 

They managed to get into the elevator without being caught by any staff members. They were on their way back to the top deck and when the doors opened Toni’s arm wrapped around Cheryl’s waist. Cheryl shuddered.

 

**_Relax Blossom, you’re fake dating remember._ **

 

“What should we do for the rest of the day? I don’t know about you but interrogating that musty guy kind of tired me out for the evening. Since he’ll be doing most of the hard work for us  now, I figure we can wait to worry about the Black Hood until tomorrow?” Toni looked up at Cheryl. Somehow even though Cheryl was taller than Toni, she still felt the desire to melt into the smaller girl’s arms. Toni began to lightly drag her fingers back and forth on Cheryl’s waist and it was almost embarrassing at how red her face was getting.

 

“Well, we do have that mandatory movie night thing that Captain Alice put on our itinerary for right about now remember.” She doesn’t know where the sudden bravery came from, but Cheryl placed her hand over Toni’s, intertwining their fingers. 

 

Toni didn’t move, but instead closed her own fingers to capture Cheryl’s. **_This was still apart of their fake dating….right?_**

 

“Well let’s go see what they’re showing then.” Toni let go of her waist and led her to the part of the ship where the movie was going to be shown.

 

They were about to head in, but Toni found the sign that displayed the movie playing in the theater and stopped them before they could take another step.

 

“Fuck no.” 

 

Cheryl glanced to where Toni was looking.

 

**MOVIE OF THE NIGHT: BE THE BATMAN TO YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER’S WONDER WOMAN AND COME SOAR WITH US TONIGHT FOR A SPECIAL SCREENING OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE!**

 

“There are so many things wrong with this sign.” Cheryl laughed and Toni laughed with her.

 

“I have so many questions. Like one who shows Justice League on a couple’s cruise?” Toni’s eyebrows scrunched together. _**Adorably,**_ Cheryl might add.

 

“More importantly who would show Justice League at all. DC movies are garbage. Well…”

 

“Except Wonder Woman.” They both said at once. They looked at each other and Toni smiled.

 

“How about we ditch this movie night and have one of our own? I have the perfect replacement.”

 

Cheryl raised an eyebrow but nodded and let Toni lead her back to their suite.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Once they had gotten back to their room, Toni pulled up _Avengers Infinity War_ on her laptop and  plugged it into the TV with an HDMI cable. Toni noticed the clock on her computer.

 

** 8:26 PM **

 

“You like Marvel too?” Cheryl had asked, crawling on to her side of the bed after changing into her PJs.

 

“Well it is superior. And Thor is a lesbian icon so.” Toni pressed play on the movie and lied down on the opposite side of Cheryl. 

 

“You’re absolutely right about that one.” Cheryl smiled and Toni’s heart twisted. She never truly noticed how beautiful Cheryl's smile actually was.  _ **Why was this happening?**_

 

Toni looked over at Cheryl and then spoke. “Ok so Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 or 2?”

 

Cheryl turned to her side to face Toni. “2.”

 

“Well this conversation was nice.”

 

“What’s wrong with 2?”

 

“Nothing just it doesn’t compare to the first one!”

 

Cheryl made eye contact. It was like she wanted Toni's heart to turn into a pretzel. “Look I just like the second one more because Nebula gets the redemption she deserves ok? It’s crucial to her and Gamora’s story line. Plus baby groot!!"

 

“Okay okay you got me there.” Toni laughed, and Cheryl winked at her. 

 

_**ooOOOOOkay?????** _

 

“Baby groot works every time.”

 

They continued to talk about MCU throughout the movie, stopping to laugh and giggle and cry during the appropriate times.

 

“I’ll do YOU one better. WHY IS GAMORA?”

 

Cheryl snorted at that one.

 

"Oh god that's embarrassing."

 

"No that was cute."

 

_**11:03 PM** _

 

The movie had ended, So Toni stood up to play another MCU movie. She settled on Ant Man and sat back down.

 

They didn’t pay much to this one though. They were a little too busy talking.

 

“So if you could have a superpower you would waste it on flying?” Cheryl asked, an eyebrow raised.

 

“Hey saving money for flights? Traveling anywhere I want any time? That is not wasting a power.”

 

“Hmmmm.”

 

_**2:07 AM** _

 

The movie had been over for a few minutes now, but neither of them seemed to notice.

 

“So your mom just. Threatened to send you away?”

 

“Yeah, pretty much. Thank god Veronica helped me out of that situation. I didn’t have many friends in high school so, her getting me out from my mother’s house really meant a lot. She was the only one who believed in me you know?”

 

Toni’s heart ached for Cheryl. She didn’t know when it happened, but they started talking about more personal things, and Cheryl had decided to share the story of her evil mom. No one deserved that. But especially not Cheryl.

 

“Well I would’ve done the same.” She didn't know if it was because her vulnerability level was increasing, but Toni was suddenly very aware that they had inched closer to each other among the passing hours. Their arms and legs were touching now. Instead of pulling away, Toni moved closer. Cheryl’s cheeks were growing red, but she didn’t move away either.

 

“No you wouldn’t have.” Cheryl looked down. “I didn’t respect anyone. Even when I wanted to, I always found a way to ruin it for myself. The only way Veronica got through to me was because I had hit complete rock bottom.” Cheryl took a shaky breath. “Plus I was just...mean.”

 

Toni chuckled, and she wasn’t sure what persuaded her to do so, but she moved piece of stray red hair out of Cheryl’s face. 

 

“You weren’t exactly super nice to me when we got on board but, here we are watching Marvel movies together in perfect harmony.” Cheryl looked up at Toni, and Toni smiled softly in return. “I would’ve broken through eventually. I mean, why do you think I kept bothering you all these years?”

 

“Because you love annoying me.” Cheryl stated bluntly.

 

Toni laughed again. “Maybe a little. But honestly? Something about you is just so....inticing. You are so special Cheryl, and I could tell that before you ever even spoke to me. I mean, you are _amazing_ at everything you do and I kind of admire that." Toni was taking in every detail of Cheryl's face as she talked. **_God she was gorgeous._** "So I think I would’ve believed in you back then if I knew you because I believe in you now." Toni could feel Cheryl's heartbeat, and it made her stomach flip. "You were born to be incredible. I don't know how anyone couldn't see that.” Cheryl was looking at her now, and Toni was a little embarrassed for being so soft. Yet her gut willed her to take a swing. “Plus you’re gorgeous and my baby teen bisexual mind wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about you.”

 

Cheryl visibly gulped, and then turned to look at the ceiling. Toni was about to apologize for overstepping when Cheryl took her hand and intertwined their fingers. “Thank you.”

 

Toni gasped involuntarily _**(quietly thank god.)**_   and rubbed a circle onto Cheryl’s hand with her thumb. “I mean it.”

 

Cheryl sat up slightly, and let go of Toni’s hand. Toni stomach dropped at the emptiness of her now lonely hand, but brushed off the feeling when Cheryl spoke.

 

“So, got any movies we can fall asleep to? I’m beat.”

 

Toni smiled. “Of course.”

 

She pulled her laptop up from the foot of the bed and after a couple of clicks, had a third movie up and ready on the screen. 

 

Cheryl laughed, and the twist in Toni's chest returned. “That’s perfect.”

 

The words  _Thor The Dark World_  flashed across the TV, both girls drifted off to sleep.

 

But not before Toni felt Cheryl snuggle quietly into her arm.

 

And Toni would be lying if she said she didn’t snuggle right back.


	7. Cooking Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl finally calls Veronica, Sweet Pea just wants to watch Steven Universe, Theres a meeting, and a lot of frosting leads to...some cleaning up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi whats up yes i finally updated it's here have fun

Cheryl woke up engulfed in tiny arms and strands of pink hair.

 

Her first instinct was to pull away, but after fully assessing the situation she realized two things:

1\. Being pressed up against the other girl was really comfortable, and 2. Toni wasn’t even awake anyway so it wouldn’t hurt if she stayed snuggled in for a few more minutes….

 

 **_Ugh._ ** It was one thing to be nice and attractive, but being a complete dork and geeking out over Marvel movies just wasn’t fair. There was no way that Cheryl could deny what the stomach flips meant anymore.

 

**_She had feelings._ **

 

And they were for her fake girlfriend who she was supposed to be working on one of the most serious cases of her career with.

 

**_Fuck._ **

 

Okay but there was definitely some flirting coming back the other way right? She couldn’t have cuddled this close to Toni if she didn’t want her to. She was a trained agent after all. Honestly, Cheryl had no idea what was going on right now, but she did know one thing.

 

She really liked the warm vanilla scent that seemed to be radiating off of Toni's body.

 

She looked up at the shorter detective. Toni’s eyes were still closed, her breathing steady and peaceful. Some soft snoring was also happening, that she initially thought was annoying at the beginning of the trip, was now actually quite adorable. Her mouth hung slightly open and her cheeks were a little bit redder than usual, probably from the excess warmth she was obtaining from another human that was intertwined with her. She was just so effortlessly beautiful and Cheryl wanted to fight herself for feeling what she felt, but she couldn’t help it. Instead she closed her eyes again and fell back asleep.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Toni woke up feeling nice and toasty. She didn’t remember the room ever being this warm.

 

Until she realized it wasn’t the heater that was keeping her warm.

 

She opened her eyes and saw Cheryl Blossom, sleeping peacefully.

 

In her arms.

 

All of the events from last night finally looped back into her mind and the gay panic just _jumped out_.

1\. There was a pretty girl sleeping not just next to her, but physically in her arms. 2. This girl was not only pretty but she watched several Marvel movies with her and laughed at all the right parts, making her impossible not to fall in love with. 3. Did she just say love? 4. She didn’t mean love. 5. But there was definitely…. _something_ going on.

 

Toni took a second to think about what all of these points could mean and made the conclusion that she was, in fact, **_falling for her coworker._ **

 

“Oh god.” Toni spoke at a volume more louder than she intended and Cheryl stirred. The red head flipped onto her back and stretched her arms out.  According to Toni’s current take of what Cheryl was doing, she let out “the cutest yawn ever”, releasing a little squeak along with it and opened her eyes. She turned back to face Toni.

 

“Good morning.” Cheryl’s face was sideways on the pillow and she smiled into it.

 

 **_How could someone be so gorgeous without even trying?_ ** Toni could literally just stare at her face for hours….

 

“Well someone doesn’t have manners.” Cheryl giggled, waving a hand in front of Toni's face attempting to snap her out of the trance she was in.

 

“Oh right, sorry, good morning.” Toni stumbled over her own words. “I’m just not awake yet so I’m totally zoning out.”

 

“I guess that's an acceptable answer.” Cheryl smiled at Toni, and they were both gazing at each other for a couple seconds too long until Cheryl’s phone buzzed and forced them both to snap out of it. Cheryl sat up and reached over to where her phone was.

 

Toni sat up too and looked at her own phone while she waited. She had several new messages.

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 2:04 AM: hey ik im not supposed to text u but wheres the remote_ **

 

**_Jughead to: You and Blossom @ 2:07 AM: Meet up. Tomorrow. Laundry room. 11 AM._ **

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 2:10 AM: no rlly where is it i wanna watch steven yniverse_ **

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 2:10 AM: *universe_ **

 

**_Sweet Pea @ 2:22 AM: NVM i found it on my own no thx 2 u_ **

 

**_(123)-456-7890 @ 9:32 AM: Hello! This is the Instructor for your scheduled cooking class! The class before us has run late due to scheduling conflicts so our class will begin at 1 PM instead of 10:30. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause._ **

 

Toni tapped on one of the messages and began typing

 

**_Toni to: Sweet Pea @ 9:33 AM: Glad that qualified as an emergency. How the fuck would I know where the remote is I’ve been gone for almost a week???? Also I need to tell you about something later. It’s about the mission, you know, AN ACTUAL important message._ **

 

Toni heard Cheryl lock her phone, so Toni did the same.

 

“Did you get both of those texts too Cheryl?”

 

Cheryl took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. “Yeah, the cooking class won't start until 1, so it looks like we’ll be meeting Jugface or whatever his name is first.”

 

“Well okay then, time to do some laundry.”

 

Both girls crawled out of bed and got ready.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheryl and Toni walked down to the laundry room where they immediately spotted the greasy hat. Cheryl put the towels she had brought to avoid suspicion into the washer next to him and inserted the quarters until the machine whirred to life.

 

“So what do you got.” Toni prompted from behind her.

 

“I was digging around the locker room for the workers, you know to check out if they’d have anything shady in their possession. And I found this.”

 

Jughead pulled out a note from his pocket and handed it to Cheryl. She unfolded it and read the contents out loud.

 

“Mom eats everything to include no girls. 3 PM basement.” Cheryl looked up at Jughead confused.

 

“The first letters.” Toni pointed out.

 

“Okay yeah I know, but would the Black Hood really make a code this stupid? Ships don't even have basements.”

 

“I don’t think it’s from the Black Hood. I think it’s from one of his workers to one of the staff members here. They must be bringing someone else in on the job, someone new. A face that no one knows so that way they can complete whatever they’re going to do without suspicion.” Jughead whispered back to the other two girls.

 

“So they’re recruiting someone?” Toni asked.

 

“I’d say so.”

 

Cheryl thought for a second. “Wait, how do we know the staff person even saw this if you took it out of their locker?”

 

“It was opened when I found it. It had a bunch of fold marks already so it’s safe to say they did. Plus there's a huge dance competition going on on the top deck at 3, so they're obviously using that as a distraction for the rest of the staff so no one knows who's missing and they can go to the lowest level of the ship.”

 

Cheryl took a deep breath. “Well either way, we’re obviously going to this meeting to find out. Let's meet back here at 2:45 before we head down. Thanks for the info.”

 

“I’ll text you if I find out anything else. See you at 2:45.” Jughead picked up the bag full of clothes he had on the floor, and made his way out of the laundry room. Cheryl spun around to Toni.

 

“Well now what?” Toni asked, stuffing the note into her back pocket.

 

“I guess we should call our partners and tell them what’s going on? We still don’t have to do anything for another hour and a half.” Cheryl’s brain froze over. God she had so much she needed to tell Veronica. About the mission….amongst other things.

 

“You’re right. Let’s head back up.”

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toni offered to make her call on the top deck so Cheryl could make hers in the room.

 

It was a good thing too because Veronica might as well have actually been there considering how loud she was being.

 

“ _Okay I know I should be trying to talk you out of stopping the Black Hood yourself, BUT WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE FEELINGS FOR HER?? THE LAST TIME I TALKED TO YOU YOU HATED HER??? I’M JUST SO LOST.”_ Veronica was literally screaming into her ear.

 

“Turn down the volume please!” Cheryl struggled to actually turn the volume down on her phone.

 

“ _Well explain! NOW. AND IF YOU SHY AWAY FROM THE DETAILS I’LL KNOW._ ”

 

Cheryl spent the next 30 minutes explaining everything that had happened in the last 2 days.

 

“And I definitely thought she was cute before, but now that I know she’s not trying to ruin my life, it’s like she’s 10000 times more attractive. Plus did I mention how much we have in common? We literally had an MCU marathon last night.”

 

Veronica laughed. “ _Yeah and you also mentioned you woke up in each others arms! You are way too far gone.”_

 

Cheryl’s face turned red. “I mean...I don’t know. What do I even do?”

 

“ _Well you came to the right place. You need to put yourself out there. Stop playing it so safe. If she flirts with you FLIRT BACK. You’re in a fake relationship anyway, so if she doesn’t feel the same way you can save yourself the embarrassment by saying it was just a ploy._ ”

 

Cheryl’s stomach turned and Veronica could tell she had said something wrong.

“ _Not that she wouldn’t feel the same. I mean, god, that’s not at all what I’m saying! After everything you’ve told me there is no way she doesn’t at least feel something. You got this Cher. I believe in you. GET YOUR FLIRT ON.”_

 

Cheryl chuckled. “Thanks V. Love you.”

 

Veronica gasped dramatically. “ _Cheryl Blossom being openly affectionate?? You really do have it bad. I don’t blame you, Toni’s a cutie._ ”

 

“Okay one, _shut up_ and two, back off. Don’t you have your own little someone to be head over heels for?”

 

“ _I-”_ Veronica’s breath suddenly hitched and Cheryl could swear she heard a moan come through the phone. She put two and two together….

 

“Oh gross V that’s EW BYE. WHILE WE'RE ON THE PHONE?”

 

“what? ... _NO no!! It’s not what you think!! Heather just woke up and stretched I swear. We were taking a nap before you called. I’ll even snap you right now to prove it._ ”

 

Cheryl opened the SnapChat she just received to see a (thankfully) fully clothed Veronica, cuddled up in bed next to another darker girl who was looking at her phone. It was actually a really adorable picture.

 

Cheryl must’ve let out a sigh of relief because Veronica started laughing again.

 

 _“That would’ve been some kinky shit though huh? Fucking while being on the phone. I think that was in an episode of Broad City. Aw we're like Abbi and Ilana!_ ”

 

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Well if she could sleep through you screaming at me like that then she’s a keeper.”

 

_“Hmm maybe. But seriously Cher, be careful tonight when you go to the meeting. I’m obviously behind you taking BH down but remember this is serious. I don’t really feel like planning your funeral right now.”_

 

“Thanks for the support.”

 

“ _Oh and Cheryl?_ ”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“ _Can you please just fuck_ _that girl already, Jesus Christ._ ”

 

With that, Cheryl hung up the phone and went to look for Toni so they could fulfill their itinerary duties.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This is not a cooking class.”

 

Cheryl murmured to Toni as she frantically used a whisk to stir batter in a bowl. They were following their instructor’s steps on how to make a cake, but Cheryl looked like that little boy on Masterchef Junior that had to restart his potatoes.

 

“This is clearly baking. There’s a difference.”

 

Toni couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

 

“Why does it matter we’re still making food.”

  
“No we’re making baked goods, _there’s a difference_.”

 

“Yes, so I’ve been told.”

 

Cheryl had been stressing out making this cake the entire time they’ve been there. Something told Toni that baking wasn’t her thing.

 

“Are you ok? You seemed sort of excited before the instructor told us what we were making.” Toni was squinting at this point, since excess batter was flying out of the bowl.

 

“That’s because I’m good at cooking, but every time I bake something goes wrong.”

 

“You made those cookies for the station’s anniversary a few months ago though? Those were good.”

 

“Yeah but it took me a million tries. The people at the grocery store started questioning me because I had to go back every hour to get more cookie dough.”

 

Toni put her hand over the one Cheryl was using to whisk and maybe Toni was just being hopeful but Cheryl visibly relaxed. “It’s not like we’re getting a trophy or anything, we’re just cooking-”

 

Cheryl’s face twisted up.

 

“Sorry, we’re just _baking_  for fun with everyone else. It doesn’t have to turn out good. Plus we don’t even have to eat it, that’s what room service is for.” Toni rubbed the hand she was still touching to console her and Cheryl’s cheeks turned red. Toni noted to try to make Cheryl blush more often. Cheryl proceeded to pour the batter into the empty pan sitting on their counter. Following the instructor’s advice, Toni put the pan inside the oven, and raised an eyebrow at Cheryl.

 

“Okay I guess you’re right. It isn’t a-”

 

“COMPETITION TIME.” The instructor suddenly screamed from the front of the room. _**Seriously?**_

 

“Now that your pans are in the oven, we will wait until your cake is done baking, and then we will start the friendly decorating competition! While we wait for your cakes to get done go ahead and make your frosting!”

 

Toni looked over at Cheryl and her look of stress returned. Suddenly she was filling bowls with frosting and squirting different colors of dye into each bowl.

 

“Whipping frosting to death isn’t going to make your mess of a cake look any better!” A man’s voice from the table next to them remarked, and the girl next to him let out a honking laugh. Cheryl’s shoulders sank a little but she rolled her eyes. Fucking hets.

 

Toni shot them a look and then turned back to Cheryl.

 

“Why did you slow down? We have a competition to win.”

 

Toni started whipping icing herself, and Cheryl smiled in response. “Damn right.”

 

After 20 minutes of whipping icing and stuffing them into the decorating dispensers, they pulled the cakes out of the oven, and put them into a giant freezer. The instructor started handing out various types of sprinkles and candies to each table, and when another 10 minutes passed, each contestant had their unfrosted cake in front of them.

 

“On your marks, get set, GO!” The instructor started a timer for 15 minutes and the girls started applying frosting to their cake. Only they realized that they hadn’t even discussed what they were going to to beforehand. Shit.

“Don’t put the blue there!” Cheryl shrieked as Toni started to apply the frosting to the cake.

 

“Well where do you want it??” Toni thought Cheryl was going to go all leader and chief on her but then, things took a twist.

 

“Here.” Cheryl booped Toni with the dispenser, letting a blot of red frosting cover Toni’s nose. Cheryl was giggling and Toni’s heart twisted. Toni gaped at Cheryl as she continued to frost the cake while laughing.

 

“This is so unprofessional of you!” Toni mocked being taken aback, hand on her own chest and all.

 

“Sorry Rudolph, but someone told me to have fun…let me get that for you.” Cheryl raised her hand to wipe off Toni's nose and Toni closed her eyes in anticipation...until she felt something cold on her face.

Her eyes snapped open and she gasped. Cheryl had put more frosting on her upper lip so she looked like she had a mustache. Cheryl’s head was thrown back, dying of laughter, and Toni took the opportunity to strike back. She used her dispenser to draw a squiggle in between Cheryl’s eyebrows. Cheryl stopped laughing and her jaw dropped. It was Toni’s turn to laugh now.

 

“Hey don’t dish out what you can’t take.”

 

“Oh it’s on Topaz.”

 

Cheryl and Toni were now shooting frosting at each other, streams of read and blue flying everywhere.

 

“GIRLS!” The instructor yelled from the front of the room, now making her way to their counter. Toni and Cheryl were covered in frosting and even though they wanted to look guilty, they couldn’t stop laughing. “Please take your cake and go.”

 

“Sure...but first!” Cheryl walked over to the straight couple that had been laughing at her before, stuck her entire hand into their cake, and ate a piece of it. “Mmmm...Oh sorry, did I mess  up your decoration?” The hets looked at her in disgust as she spun around, picked up their own cake with pride and strode towards the exit. Toni was basically drooling over the dominance Cheryl just asserted that she almost forgot that she was supposed to leave with her. Toni walked to the door backwards, dropped her icing dispenser like a mic, and spun around to find Cheryl.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheryl may have lost the cake decorating competition, but she felt like she was on top of the world. Usually she would feel a heavy need to put her all in when it came to a competition, but after being there actually being backed up by Toni, it was like she always felt like she was winning no matter what the results were. Which was crazy, considering they’d only really started speaking to each other a week ago.

 

Cheryl and Toni had been in their suite for a while now and both of them had done a pretty good job of cleaning themselves up from the frosting fight.

 

“Okay but when you stuck your hand in that couple’s cake? That was my favorite.” Toni had been cackling about the entire event ever since it ended and Cheryl thought it was the cutest thing. Her stomach wouldn’t stop doing flips. It was like it was trying to beat an olympic world record. _**What a bitch ass stomach.**_

 

“Oh don’t think I missed your epic mic drop moment either!” Cheryl giggled. She had been doing that a lot more in the past two days than she ever had in her entire life.

 

Toni tucked a piece of hair behind her ear to get the last of the red frosting off her face. She looked extremely soft for some reason, and had been ever since last night. Cheryl was suddenly very aware of how soft Toni’s lips looked too. And how much she wanted them on hers...

 

“Cheryl?”

 

Cheryl snapped out of her thoughts immediately. “Hmm?”

 

“You um. You still have some frosting.” Toni pointed and a spot on her own cheek and Cheryl tried to imitate the movement on herself to wipe it off, but nothing appeared on her hand.

 

“Here, let me just…” Toni took the washcloth in her hand and moved closer so she could wipe the bit of blue Cheryl had seemed to miss. She was inches away from her lips now. _**Why was she so close?**_

 

“Thanks..” Cheryl let out a shaky breath realized that she could feel the other girls heartbeat. She was sure Toni could feel hers too. It was pounding.

 

“You wanna know why that was my favorite?” Toni was speaking in a lower tone than usual and she didn’t know how it was physically possible, but Toni was somehow getting closer. If she didn’t stop soon Cheryl was going to lose it. She'd never been this attracted to someone in her life.

 

“Why?”

 

Toni put her mouth up to Cheryl’s ear now and Cheryl shuddered.

 

“Because it really turned me on.”

 

_Stop playing it so safe. **Fuck** **it.**_

 

The second Toni’s face reappeared in front of her own, Cheryl grabbed it and crashed her lips onto the shorter girl's.

 

Toni’s lips were soft and gentle against Cheryl’s even though there was desperation in her movements. It was like they were both hungry for each other but didn’t know where the boundaries were. Toni took the first risk, running her tongue along Cheryl’s bottom lip. Immediately, Cheryl opened her mouth just enough to grant Toni access and Cheryl let out a soft moan. Toni’s hand was starting to move under her shirt when…

 

_BOooOooYyYyyy_

 

_OHHHH KILLING ME SOFTLYyyYyyY_

 

Cheryl and Toni broke apart, startled by the ringtone that was blaring out of Cheryl’s pocket.

 

_**You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.** _

 

Cheryl pulled the phone out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID. Cheryl rolled her eyes and hit answer followed by the speaker button. “This better be good Jugbitch because we are a little busy right now.” Toni stifled a laugh and Cheryl’s irritation faltered a little bit.

 

“ _It’s 2:55! the meeting is about to start! Where are you_???”

 

“Oh, shit ok yeah we’ll be right there.” Toni hit the hang up button on Cheryl’s phone and looked up. “To be continued?”

 

Cheryl smirked, grabbed Toni’s hand, and made their way down to the laundry room.


End file.
